Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [136]
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TERTON PEMA LINGPA
Pema Lingpa (1450–1521) was one of the five great tertons (treasure-finders) of Nyingma Buddhism, and the most important terton in Bhutan. The texts and artefacts he found, the dances he composed and the art he produced have significantly shaped Bhutan’s cultural heritage. He is also considered a reincarnation of Guru Rinpoche.
He was born in the hamlet of Drangchel in Bumthang’s Tang valley, near Kunzangdrak Goemba. As a boy he learned the craft of blacksmithing from his grandfather; indeed two of the chainmails he forged are still on display at Tamshing and Thangbi goembas.
At age 25 he discovered his first terma after he dreamed a monk handed him a scroll in dakini script that gave instructions on how to find a treasure chest deep in a pool in the Tang valley (Click here). Pema eventually managed to translate the scroll but this was a huge project, because in dakini script each word stands for 1000 human words. Later, assisted by the khandromas (dakinis), he used the text as a basis for teachings. His residence at the time was in Kunzangling, which is on a cliff above the Tang valley and is now the site of the Kunzangdrak Goemba (Click here).
During Pema Lingpa’s life he found a total of 34 statues, scrolls and sacred relics in Bhutan and as far away as Samye in Tibet. Many of the statues and relics he discovered are preserved in lhakhangs throughout Bhutan, including Bunthang’s Tamshing and Kunzangdrak goembas, which he founded.
In his visions, Pema Lingpa often visited Zangto Pelri, Guru Rinpoche’s celestial paradise. During these visions he observed the dances of the khandromas and yidam (tutelary deities). He taught three of these dances, called pa-cham, to his disciples, and several of these are still performed as part of Bhutan’s tsechu festivals.
After his death he was reincarnated in three forms, consisting of ku (body), sung (speech) and thug (mind) and these lineages continue to this day.
Through his six sons, one daughter and numerous reincarnations, Pema Lingpa left behind a legacy that still influences much of Bhutan. His most important son, Dawa Gyeltshen, was born in 1499 and settled in Chhume, one of Bumthang’s valleys. Another of his sons, Pema Thinley, was a reincarnation of Pema Lingpa himself. This incarnation founded Gangte Goemba in the Phobjikha valley (Click here), and the Gangte Trulku lineage continues there, with Kuenzang Pema Namgyal, born in 1955, as the ninth ‘mind’ reincarnation.
Another of his sons, Kuenga Wangpo, born in 1505, settled in Lhuentse (known then as Kurtoe), where his great-grandsons founded Dungkhar Dzong, north of Lhuentse Dzong. The royal family of Bhutan, the Wangchuck dynasty, is descended from this line.
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The major influence in the temples on this side of the valley was Pema Lingpa, the great terton of the 16th century.
TAMSHING GOEMBA
This goemba, formally the Tamshing Lhendup Chholing (Temple of the Good Message), is at the northern end of the eastern road, 5km from Jakar. It was established in 1501 by Pema Lingpa and is the most important Nyingma goemba in the kingdom. Pema Lingpa built the unusual structure himself, with the help of khandromas, who made many of the statues. On the inner walls are what are believed to be original unrestored images that were painted by Pema Lingpa, though recent research has uncovered even older paintings underneath.
The entrance to the lhakhang is via an inner courtyard lined with monks’ quarters. To the left is the small Mani Dungkhor Lhakhang, built in 1914 to hold a huge prayer wheel.
The main lhakhang has an unusual design with the key chapel screened off in the centre of the assembly hall, almost like a separate building. In the chapel are three thrones for the three incarnations (body, mind and speech) of Pema Lingpa. During important ceremonies the reincarnations sit here,