Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [54]
Domestic Rituals
Every house has a choesham (altar or shrine room). Each altar usually features statues of Sakyamuni, Guru Rinpoche and the Zhabdrung. In most homes and temples, devotees place seven bowls filled with water on altars. This simple offering is important because it can be given without greed or attachment. If offerings are made to the protective deities, such as Mahakala, then there are only five offering bowls. As all Himalayan Buddhists do, Bhutanese devotees prostrate themselves in front of altars and lamas, first clasping hands above the head, again at throat level and then at the chest. This represents the ultimate desire to attain the body, speech and mind of a buddha.
On special occasions monks prepare torma (ritual cake), white and pink sculptures made from tsampa (barley flour) and butter, as symbolic offerings to deities. Each deity is associated with a particular form of torma.
Rites are performed for events and crises in life such as birth, marriage, promotion, illness and death. The rituals take place in front of the household shrine, or outside with an altar erected with an image of Buddha (representing the Buddha’s body), a religious text (representing the Buddha’s speech) and a small stupa or chorten (representing the Buddha’s mind). The basic rituals of initiation, purification, consecration and the offering of a torma are included. For example, a water or incense purification ceremony is performed after a birth, while more elaborate rituals involving the offering of the eight lucky signs (ie Tashi Tagye) may be offered at a promotion or marriage. Astrology maybe used to decide the timing of the rituals. Bhutanese often consult tsip (astrologers) before embarking on a journey or a new undertaking. Astrology plays an important role in overcoming misfortune and deciding the most appropriate time to perform rituals to avert misfortune.
Each ritual, irrespective of its purpose, will include prayers for the lineage gurus and the Buddhas, taking refuge in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), a short verse to generate compassion for all living beings (cultivating bodhicitta), invocation of the deity, offering of torma, meditation on the deity with recitation of the appropriate mantra, closing prayers with dedication of merit and apologies for any shortcomings in the ritual or its recitation. Ordinary men and women do not typically engage in meditation or Buddhist philosophical studies, though many will attempt to complete the preliminary practices and will seek the blessings of lamas before embarking on new ventures, for their children and prosperity.
LUSO (FOLK RELIGION)
The invocation of local and protective deities, and the offering of incense to the mountain deities, are everyday rituals in Bhutan. Every locality, mountain, lake, river or grove of trees has its deities and they are worshipped by the local communities. In the morning, leaves or aromatic herbs (juniper) are burned as an offering to the mountain deities. On certain days, a single flag is raised on every house and particular deities are invoked. Many of the local deities are believed to have originally been Bon deities converted to Buddhism by Guru Rinpoche. Bon traditions and rituals are still practised in parts of Bhutan during the celebration of local festivals. Bon may have spread to Bhutan from Tibet prior to the arrival of Guru Rinpoche.
Each locality has its own local practices and often women play a major role in these local ceremonies and celebrations. An interesting, if rare, category of female religious figures is the delog. Delog are women, occasionally men, who have died