Logistic Slog and a Buddhist Ritual

(From Jay)

We have not been posting much in the way of news because we’ve been far busier than we expected. We are still slogging through logistical stuff. But Dori finally got her bank account set up, actually got paid, went to the bank to deposit that check, and successfully set up online access to the money via the app that everyone uses,“mBOB” (mobile Bank of Bhutan), even for the simplest transactions. 

The pervasive use of that technology is a great counterpoint to the incredibly convoluted and underdeveloped bureaucratic systems throughout the country in every area – such as our visa extensions, and the whole bank account thing – that we encounter every time we turn around.

There is also the logistical process of getting up and down the mountain (from Paro to JSW near Pangbisa) every day that we are on campus.

Which is to say that we are exhausted much of the time, with stuff like logistics adding to the general work of doing the work that we came here to do.

I have hesitated to post about this because I don’t want to be a whiny internationalist. I will leave it at that, knowing that there are many folks in our tribe who have spent their lives dealing with developing world logistics and setbacks. I like to think we are moving forward and getting more settled now. 

I have wanted to post the following description of the elaborate rimdro that was held on campus, a series of rituals that JSW staff, faculty and students put on following the death of the staff member that Dori posted about on March 12.

I invited my students to write short reflection papers about the rimdro, and the following is from one of my students, who said I could share it with you all. He is an exceptionally smart 20-year-old, and also a very knowledgeable and devout Buddhist. His was the most elaborate and detailed description of the proceedings. 

The role of Buddhism in Bhutan’s culture, and in their political/legal system, is something that we talk about every week in the class I am teaching, Law, Religion and Culture. It is also a tricky subject, since the dominant religion is very much Buddhism, but the Bhutan Constitution declines to establish it as a state religion, unlike for example, Sri Lanka. Because the legal system remains very undeveloped at this point, it remains to be seen where the next generation of professionals (including these students) will take it, and many of my students understand that provisions guaranteeing freedom of thought, conscience, and religion might be more rights on paper than real rights in practice, unless the country changes how it views religions and cultures beyond the familiar.

But that is for a later posting. This student's paper gives you a taste for the unusual mix of Bhutan’s very unique form of Buddhism, and the larger culture that we are immersed in.

JSW Rimdro 

Rimdros are conducted for a myriad of reasons and in many ways. The one conducted at JSW on the 14th of March was mainly aimed in the dispelling of obstructive circumstances, deleterious forces, and the accumulation of merit to bring forth auspiciousness and general well being for the college as a whole. With that, the Rimdro was mainly conducted in two modes. Firstly, the official conduction of expulsive rites and rituals in the arcade below the Utse by the monks of the Paro Monk Body and the Druk Chhoeding Lam. Secondly, the recitation of the Hundred Thousand verses of Prajnaparamita by the students; led by the three Rigzhung professors of JSWSL.

Since I was in the Sutra recitation of the Rimdro, my point of view of the events which took place is mostly limited to the pages which lied before me and the other students who were with me in the altar. Groups of four, and some of three, were made and each group had to recite an entire text from the Sutra as a whole. Though I had always seen the students gather every evening of the weekday for the daily prayers, this was quite different. One could feel a heavier setting was present and the activity was what one would consider more significant and holy than a daily prayer recitation. The distribution and the division of the parts of the texts made it feel like a communal activity. And when I think about it now, one of the definitional issues regarding religion included collectivity and individuality. Though the issue of religion as a definition did not stand out in this situation, I was able to better understand the communal aspect of religion through this mass sutra recitation. Everyone came together as an acting Sangha to accumulate merit within and without through the recitation of the Buddha’s words through this Sutra. The Sutra recitation was important as it showed Buddhism as not an exclusively monastic religion, but an all pervasive phenomenon which included the secular laity within its practices. Though this does not include higher esoteric practices, the general inclusion of the students in such a big ritual was comprehensive nonetheless. All through this, the main rites were being held in the arcade below.

I was not able to visit the temporary altar set up in the arcade for the rituals, but I was a part of a small team which assisted in the preparation of butter lamp offerings for the main day. I also watched from outside the different portraits on hanging scrolls of deities, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas. On the day of the main ritual, the tables were jammed with elaborate offerings of ritual cakes, water offerings, butter lamps, and many other substances of offerings. I then thought to myself how the Orientalist scholars of textual Buddhism in the west would react to this ornate and elaborate practice we would consider no different from the essence of Buddhism itself, though heavily influenced by himalayan traditions and culture. Might they have seen a perverted ritual of demons? Or would they deviate from the supremacist understanding solely through texts and see the profound meaning behind these activities? Whatever it could have been, the portraits of the protective deities never fail to bring a sense of fearful reassurance within me.

At the end of the day, a fire ritual of exorcising obstructing spirits was conducted in every room. The men accompanied the Lama and hollered to further drive the spirits and malicious forces away. As the ritual almost came to an end, there was a light drizzle. Everyone considered it extremely auspicious and believed that the ritual was a success.

Lastly, Owing to the busy schedule and the small number of the students here, a communal spirit has not really developed within the college. However, the night of the ritual when almost everyone gathered in the rain to witness the last expulsion ritual really made me feel like the ritual was not only succeeding in quelling the place through tantric practices, but bringing forth a sense of shared responsibility and joy amongst everyone. A more discernible effect of religion and the ensuing practices on the practitioners and the community as a whole.

The largest Buddha in the country, overlooking the capital city of Thimphu.