Stories from the Field

September 2003

Unmasking the Dragon

The Drukpa of Japan
A dancer—masked by the gruesome face of a mythical demon—spins and jumps in an age-old ritual. He sweeps his sword to the ground, severing the power of unseen demons.

Behind him, stoic, orange-clad monks drone in monotone chants, clinking brass cymbals accompanied by the deep chug of ceremonial horns.

A silent crowd watches from behind two tall bales of straw. As the dance draws to a frenetic climax, a knot of small boys approaches the bales with burning sticks. In an instant, the columns of straw snap and pop, roaring into twin blazes.

The crowd reacts in a frenzy. Men, women and children begin to push—some screaming in fear, others laughing with abandon.

The brave leap across flames that lick at their legs. Others cower and run, some holding children. In the jostle, some stumble and fall, pushed down by the crowd surging behind them.

And as quickly as it starts, it ends. The flames give way to scorched earth covered in wispy ash.

For the Drukpa (drook-PAH), the native peoples of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan (boo-TAAN)—a people whose name literally means “people of the dragon”—yet another ceremony comes to an end. Those brave enough to pass through the blazing gauntlet return home hopeful their sins have been wiped away, cleansed by fire.

The hidden Shangri-La

The tiny kingdom of Bhutan sits wedged between the two most populous nations in the world—China and India. It is not hard to imagine how this country has managed to live in centuries of self-imposed isolation.

Just a dot on a map, it is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world. Peaks and valleys dissecting the country are outlined by countless rivers that plunge through passes and race across valleys.

Its snowcapped peaks are untamed and, unlike the ranges in Nepal and Tibet, have not been climbed. Religious superstition forbids it. The Drukpa say the mountains are the sacred barriers of the country.

The Drukpa, who make up a majority of Bhutan’s approximately 600,000 people, do not refer to their country as Bhutan, but rather as Druk-yul—Land of the Thunder Dragon. Many outsiders consider it the mythical Shangri-La.

Bhutan has chosen to keep its borders closed until recently. Visitors today, fortunate and wealthy enough to visit through a cracked—and widening—door, are treated to a picture-book land and cordial people who have changed very little over the centuries.

A national roadway spanning most of the country, connecting neighboring mountains, has been in place just a few years. Yet even with the roadway, short distances take entire days to cover, maneuvering through dizzying switchbacks along the mountain roads.

The information superhighway—which Christians pray will be a major inroad for spreading the gospel in Bhutan—is even less advanced. The government just allowed computers and the Internet into the country a few years ago.

Mythical origins

Steeped in Tibetan Buddhism and mixed with an overpowering dose of mysticism and superstition, the Drukpa are ruled by a fear of the spirits.

According to Bhutanese history—mythology taught as fact to schoolchildren—in A.D. 747, the Guru Rimpoche (reem-poe-CHEE) flew from Tibet to Bhutan on the back of a tiger and established the school of Buddhism still followed in Bhutan.

The Drukpa tell countless stories about the guru and Pema Lingpa, a saint and a “reincarnate” of Rimpoche, stories such as those of demons being harnessed by magic to build the many dzongs (ZONG), or fortress monasteries, around the country.

Painted on every house are symbols of lives lived in a grip of fear: colorful yet freakish faces of demons painted on walls; astrological markings above doorways; graphic phallic renderings and carvings which supposedly drive away demons.

At every corner, in every house, in crevices along the roads, chortens—round stone monuments often containing religious relics—alters and rocks are painted or carved with the mantra of the Buddhist: “Om maani padme hum,” literally, “Hail to the jewel in the lotus.”

Prayer wheels, fixed by the dozens around every monastery and holy place, spin day and night, delivering prayers to the gods with every rotation.

Men and women walk counterclockwise for hours, spinning them while mumbling mantras.

Multicolored prayer flags—long banners marked with ancient prayers raised to signify everything from death to good luck—are erected by every home and stand in tight formations on virtually every peak and hill.

Deviating from this way of life would be unheard of for the Drukpa. “Bhutan prides itself as being the only Tibetan Buddhist kingdom in the world,” says “Nathaniel,”* a Christian familiar with the country. “There is a lot of pressure to preserve the culture. Anything that would be threatening to that culture is considered hostile.”

Christianity, he says, is counted as one of the biggest threats. Christians in the country need the support of fellow believers around the world because of the fierce opposition they receive in all areas of their lives once their faith is known.

This way of life, the observance and fear of the spirit world, “is engrained in the Drukpa from the cradle,” Nathaniel says. “The practices are very much akin to the occult, as there is so much superstition about everything—when you can marry, even the right time to pay bills.”

Demand for atonement

Virtually every facet of life for the Drukpa is webbed within a fear of the unknown. Whether they know it or not, says another Christian, “it all goes back to the fall of man.

“There is something within these people that demands they search for atonement,” he says. “Every ritual and act they take on is surrounded by mysticism and the search for cleansing.”

What is evident in the daily lives of the people is an awareness that they are separated from the heavenly. At every turn is a futile effort—an opportunity, a mystical sequence of acts or an ordained toss of the dice—that promises to keep their souls pure before their gods.

The concept of a loving God—the message of salvation through Jesus Christ—is something that needs to be presented to the them. “They are stuck in a cycle of deception,” Nathaniel says.

Those who can’t muster the courage to dash through the fire can perform other acts.

Outside the Thangbimani monastery near Bumthang, if a penitent can carry an enormous rock—weighing more than 200 pounds—three trips, counterclockwise, around a pile of prayer stones, the carrier is freed of sins.

Others travel to a sacred shrine built to honor Guru Rimpoche at the base of a cliff where the guru’s likeness was carved in the 15th century. The devout, looking for freedom from sin, circle the shrine, crawling through a tight space between the rock face and the altar.

Accepting the way out

According to “Dorji,”* a Drukpa who embraced Christianity more than 20 years ago, the Bhutanese “hold to a fatalistic view of life. Everything is determined for you within the law of karma. Everyone is stuck in the wheel of life, and while you can’t control your ultimate destiny, you can make the best of what you have.”

While the doors to the Drukpa remain closed, Nathaniel believes that God will be glorified in Bhutan through the prayers of concerned Christians around the world.

“The Bible says mountains will bow down before the Lord, and Bhutan is one of those mountains,” he says. “Even though we don’t know how God will bring it to pass, it is important that we pray for it to happen, because it is His heart that the Drukpa glorify Him.”

The mountains and isolation of the people are formidable barriers to spreading the gospel among the Drukpa and throughout Bhutan, Dorji says, but through prayer and the intercession of Christians around the world, doors will be opened and national Christians will be encouraged in their faith and will share their faith.

The Drukpa need to hear that it is possible to be a Bhutanese and a Christian, Dorji says.

“Being a Christian hasn’t lessened my patriotism and love for my country at all,” he says. “But finding the personal God made the difference for me. There are no more pujas to be done, pilgrimages to go on, amulets to wear, no more mantras to be chanted.

“Jesus Christ has done it all.”

*Names have been changed for their protection.

The photographer and writer can be reached at eyesforbride@asia.com and asiaoc@pobox.com.