BHUTAN AND ITS HISTORY

Bhutan is a small Himalayan country located between India in the south and China on the north. It is completely a mountainous region and has no big plain areas. It has an altitude of 300 metres in the south and 7000 (23,000 feet) in the north. Bhutan was called by several names before such as Lho Jong, 'the valley of the south', Lho Mon Kha Shi, 'The Southern Mon Country of Four Approaches', Lho Jong Men Jong, 'The Southern Valleys of Medicinal Herbs', Lho Mon Tseden Jong, The Southern Mon Valleys where Sandalwood or Cypress Grows'. At present population of Bhutan is 700,000 approximately.

Bhutan is called Druk Yul in Bhutanese language which means 'The land of the Dragon'. Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorjee (1161-1211) , the Drukpa Kagyud founder, an emanation of Avalokitesvara, was proceeding towards the site where the monastery was going to build in U region in Tibet . There he saw nine dragons thundering into the sky and flowers raining down miraculously. At the very site, he built a monastery and when it was completed, he gave the name Druk Sewa Jangchubling which literally means 'Awakening place of the realized Dragons'. After that the religious school which he found was likewise called Drukpa. In the 17th century, when the Drukpas unified Bhutan , they gave this name Druk for the country and Drukpa for its people. Bhutan is the only country in the world to have adopted Mahayana Buddhism as a Tantric form of practice as its official religion.

                                                                不丹歴史

不丹位於喜馬拉雅山南麓，南臨印度而北接中國。不丹國被羣山包圍，沒有大平原。南部海拔只有約300米，而北部卻有7000米(23,000呎)高。不丹曾被稱為Lho Jong (山谷以南的意思)，Lho Mon Kha Shi, 'The Southern Mon Country of Four Approaches', Lho Jong Men Jong, (草藥南山谷), Lho Mon Tseden Jong, The Southern Mon Valleys where Sandalwood or Cypress Grows'。目前不丹大約有七十萬人口。不丹又稱為『竹』或『竹域』，意即『雷龍之地』。章巴加雷 (1161-1211)在不丹建立起竹巴噶舉傳承，他在西藏Phaonkar 的Ue 地區興建了他自己的第一所寺廟。在動工興建這所寺廟之前，他見到九條飛龍如打雷般大聲地在天空中飛舞，而帶有吉兆的花朵卻隨著九龍的飛舞而從天上如降雨般散落在寺廟的選址之上。而他將這所寺廟稱為Druk Sewa Jangchubling，意思是 「雷龍開悟之地」，他亦將由他自己所建立的學派稱之為「竹巴」。不丹在十七世紀被統一為大一統的王國，國家被稱為「竹」而人民卻被稱為「竹巴」。不丹王國是現今世上唯一以密乘為其國教的國家。

      Guru Padmasambhava

Buddhism came to Bhutan in the 7th century AD after Tibetan King Songtshen Gampo constructed two Buddhist temples in Bhutan . They are called Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro valley and Jampa Lhakhang in Choekhor valley in Bumthang. Later in the eight century, a great Trantic master Guru Padmasambhava or Guru Rimpoche came to Bhutan and he introduced Buddhism to Bhutan . He visited many places in Bhutan and meditated there for the sake of sentient beings. These places are for Bhutanese people and others to make a pilgrimage. Guru Rimpoche had hidden many Ters or religious treasures in Bhutan both texts and religious objects for the sake of future sentient beings and later discovered some by his predestined persons or Tertons (treasure discoverer). The most famous pilgrimage place of Guru Rimpoche in Bhutan is the sacred Taksang monastery where he came here flying on a tigress back and meditated. Guru Rimpoche had himself prophesied that Vajrayana Buddhism will be flourished in the southern valley of Tibet and that is Bhutan .

蓮花生大師

公元七世紀後，不丹的佛教隨着藏王松贊干布在不丹建立兩所寺院開始出現及發展。這兩所寺院分別為座落於Paro的Kyichu Lhakhang 和Bumthang, Choekhor 河谷的Jampa Lhakhang。公元八世紀後期，密乘的偉大上師蓮花生大士來將佛教傅入不丹，他走訪不丹各地並指導當地的眾生進行禪修，他所到之處今天皆成為信眾朝聖的聖地。蓮師在不丹各地埋藏了很多能利益將來眾生的伏藏法教及聖物(Ters)，並預言將來必定有人發現這些經典和聖物，這些人被稱為Tertons。相傳蓮師曾騎着一頭老虎飛到某個山上，並在那裏沉思冥想，於是後人便在這裏建立了Taksang (Tiger’s Nest)寺，它亦成為今天不丹最著名的朝聖聖地之一。蓮師曾預言金剛乘將會在西藏以南的山谷開花結果，這地方就是不丹了。

Zhabdrung Rinpoche (Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal)

Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594-1651), an emanation of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, came to Bhutan in 1616 from Tibet when he was just 23 years old. He is also the incarnation of Naropa. He is said to have attained the Tathagata reality through different spiritual personalities as Songtsen Gampo, Khenpo Zhiwatsho, Naropa, Dayod Zhonu, Gyalwang Je, Jamyang Choedrag and Kuenkhen Pema Karpo. He had been recognized as the incarnation of a famous Drukpa scholar, Kuenkhen Pema Karpo (1527-92) and he became the 18th abbot of Ralung, the great Drukpa monastery. He was born on eleventh day of the first month of the Wood-Horse Year, corresponding to 1595, of Gya clan to father Tenpai Nyima and mother Sonam Pelgyi Buthrid. In 1621,Zhabdrung Rinpoche built his first monastery in Bhutan at Cheri, north of Thimphu city and it is this very place that Zhabdrung Rinpoche established the first Buddhist Sangha community in religious history of Bhutan with thirty monks. His arrival in Bhutan gave a big impact on Bhutanese history and changed the lives of Bhutanese people. He unified the nation by establishing a first dual system of government. After that, Zhabdrung Rinpoche gave the new name 'Drukyul' for the country. He built many fortresses as we called 'Dzong' in Bhutanese language all over the country.

夏尊法王 (夏尊雅旺南嘉)

夏尊雅旺南嘉 (1595-1651)，是觀世音菩蕯的化身，也是那洛巴的轉世，他在1616年從西藏來到不丹，這時他年僅23歲。他從松贊干布、堪布Zhiwatsho, 那洛巴、Dayod Zhonu、Gyalwang Je, Jamyang Choedrag及Kuenkhen Pema Karpo證得如來藏實性。他亦被認證為第四世竹巴法王 貝瑪嘎波的轉世，他亦是偉大Ralung寺院的第十八世住持。

夏尊法王在西曆1595年（木馬年）１月11日出生。他出生於『加』Gya家族，父親是Tenpai NyimaGya，而母親是Sonam Pelgyi Buthrid。法王在1621年於不丹天普市以北的Chari建立了他的第一所寺院，同時組成不丹宗教史上的第一個僧團，當時的僧侶有30人。法王的來到不丹，不但影響不丹的歷史發展，亦改變了不丹人的生活。法王統一整個國家後，建立起首個雙軌的政府制度，並將國家重新命名為「竹域」(即今天的不丹)。在法王主政期間，曾興建多座城堡，不丹語稱之為「宗」Dzong。

                                         Drukpa Kargyud lineage

竹巴噶舉傳承

竹巴噶舉是金剛乘噶舉派(白教)之一，在公元12世紀，一位偉大修行人出生西藏Ue地區的『加』(華裔貴族)，他就是章巴加雷。章巴加雷是一位偉大的修行成就者兼學者，亦是竹巴噶舉的建立者，據說他是大慈大悲觀世音菩蕯的化身。章巴加雷天生聰敏，自少便和藹可親、現慈悲相，有一日，他從其中一位信眾口中得知寧千日巴到訪Ralung，並在那裏居住。當他在去拉蕯和Samye朝聖的途中順道去拜見寧千日巴，並在那裏受戒。之後，章巴加雷從寧千日巴處學習最高甚深的佛法及修持大手印禪法。寧千日巴成為了章巴加雷的根本上師，寧千日巴上師將所有法教傳授給他，使他在修行上獲得大成就，最後更成為寧千日巴眾多弟子中最優秀的弟子，並因為他在修行上的鉅大成就，更被尊稱為DrukThamched Khyenpa (全知雷龍)或Drukchen (偉大雷龍)。第四世竹巴法王是貝瑪嘎波，他的轉世便是夏尊法王(章巴加雷)。