Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [134]
One of the king’s secretaries thus invited the tantric master Padmasambhava to Bumthang to use his supernatural powers to save the Sindhu Raja. The Guru came to Bumthang and meditated, leaving a jey (imprint) of his kur (body) in the rock, now surrounded by Kurjey Goemba. Guru Rinpoche was to be married to the king’s daughter, Tashi Khuedon. He sent her to fetch water in a golden ewer. While she was away the Guru transformed into all eight of his manifestations and, together, they started to dance in the field by the temple. Every local deity appeared to watch this spectacle, except the stony-faced Shelging Kharpo who stayed hidden away in his rocky hideout above the present temple.
Guru Rinpoche was not to be set back by this rejection, and when the princess returned he changed her into five separate princesses, each clutching a golden ewer. The sunlight flashing off these ewers finally attracted Shelging Kharpo, but before he ventured out to see what was going on he first transformed himself into a white snowlion. On seeing the creature appear the Guru changed into a garuda, flew up and grabbed the lion and told Shelging Kharpo in no uncertain terms to behave himself. He thus recovered Sendha Gyab’s life force, and for good measure converted both the rival kings to Buddhism, restoring the country to peace.
Shelging Kharpo agreed to become a protective deity of Buddhism; to seal the agreement the Guru planted his staff in the ground at the temple where its cypress tree descendants continue to grow. Furthermore, Guru Rinpoche made the king, Sendha Gyab, and his enemy from the south make peace; a stone pillar at Nabji (Click here) in the Black Mountains marks the spot where the agreement was made.
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At the entrance to the lower-floor Sangay Lhakhang is a small crawl-through rock passage; Bhutanese believe that in crawling through a narrow tunnel like this you will leave your sins behind. Behind the statues of the three Buddhas is a secret passageway which is said to have once led to Tharpaling.
The upper-floor sanctuary is the holiest in the complex, and has an image of Shelging Kharpo in a shrine just inside the door. There are a thousand small statues of Guru Rinpoche neatly lined up along the same wall, plus statues of Guru Rinpoche, Pema Lingpa and Drolma (Tara). The main statue in this sanctuary is again of Guru Rinpoche, flanked by his eight manifestations and eight chortens. Hidden behind this image is the meditation cave, where he left his body imprint. The far wall has paintings of Guru Rinpoche, his manifestations, his 25 disciples and various other figures connected with the Guru. The big cypress tree behind the lhakhang is said to have sprouted from the Guru’s walking stick.
Ugyen Wangchuck, the first king of Bhutan, built the second temple, the Sampa Lhundrup Lhakhang, in 1900, when he was still penlop of Trongsa. On the entrance porch are paintings of the guardians of the four directions and of various local deities who were converted to Buddhism by Guru Rinpoche. The white ghostlike figure on the white horse to the top right is Shelging Kharpo. Inside the temple is a statue of Guru Rinpoche, this one 10m high, flanked again by his eight manifestations. A smaller image of the Guru sits facing the entrance.
The third building in the complex is a recent three-storey lhakhang built by the queen mother, Ashi Kesang Wangchuck, in 1984 under the guidance of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. She also had the courtyard in front of the three temples paved with stones and built a wall with 108 chortens around the whole complex. On the porch in front of the temple is a large wheel of