what is Bhutanese literature?
Bhutan's literary tradition is deeply rooted in Buddhism. The most important religious scriptures are the Kangyur (translated words of the Buddha) and the Tengyur (commentaries by Indian and Tibetan scholars). There is also a rich tradition of oral storytelling, with folk tales passed down through generations. These stories often involve mythical creatures, local deities, and moral lessons. Some well-known folktales include the story of the Divine Madman (Drugpa or Drukpa Kunley) and the tale of the Four Harmonious Friends. It is in fact one of the Jataka tales common to all Buddhist areas, associating the elephant, the monkey, the rabbit, and the bird such as a hornbill, that often appear in Bhutanese art mounting each other like the European musicians of Bremen. These animals epitomize the four terrestrial habitats (sky, tree, ground, and the hare stands for the underground) as they help each other eat the fruits of a banyan tree, the pecking order being ruled by the principle of seniority (the hornbill is considered the oldest as he claims to have excreted the seed from which the tree grew). The fact that the strongest animal, i.e. the elephant is not the first to eat stands for the moral lesson of the tale, rejecting the relations based on strength and power.
Contemporary Bhutanese authors write both in English and the national language, Dzongkha. It is still an emergent literary system, with few internationally visible authors. A few names may be quoted: Kunzang Choden, the author of novels, short stories, and essays that often explore Bhutanese culture. She published books under captivating titles, evoking the main things that the international public may know from Buthan: The Circle of Karma, Chilli and Cheese: Food and Society in Bhutan, and Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti. Another female author is Kuenga Wangmo known for her novels such as Pawo as well as short stories that delve into the lives of ordinary people in Bhutan. Dasho Karma Ura is a prominent Bhutanese author and scholar whose works often focus on the intersection of spirituality and everyday life. He is associating the activities of a writer with those of a scholar and public intellectual, as well as the director of an institute for Bhutanese studies and National Happiness (yes, GNH, Gross National Happiness Research - Karma Ura was the inventor of this innovative concept). For his achievements, he earned the red scarf by the Fourth King of Bhutan in 2006, as well as his honorific title of Dasho. His writings cover a range of topics related to Bhutan, including its culture, philosophy, and development. Strictly in the literary field, there is one novel of his authorship, A Hero with A Thousand Eyes (1995). Finally, Kuenga Gyeltshen is a Bhutanese poet who speaks of nature, spirituality, and human existential experience.
Contemporary Bhutanese authors write both in English and the national language, Dzongkha. It is still an emergent literary system, with few internationally visible authors. A few names may be quoted: Kunzang Choden, the author of novels, short stories, and essays that often explore Bhutanese culture. She published books under captivating titles, evoking the main things that the international public may know from Buthan: The Circle of Karma, Chilli and Cheese: Food and Society in Bhutan, and Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti. Another female author is Kuenga Wangmo known for her novels such as Pawo as well as short stories that delve into the lives of ordinary people in Bhutan. Dasho Karma Ura is a prominent Bhutanese author and scholar whose works often focus on the intersection of spirituality and everyday life. He is associating the activities of a writer with those of a scholar and public intellectual, as well as the director of an institute for Bhutanese studies and National Happiness (yes, GNH, Gross National Happiness Research - Karma Ura was the inventor of this innovative concept). For his achievements, he earned the red scarf by the Fourth King of Bhutan in 2006, as well as his honorific title of Dasho. His writings cover a range of topics related to Bhutan, including its culture, philosophy, and development. Strictly in the literary field, there is one novel of his authorship, A Hero with A Thousand Eyes (1995). Finally, Kuenga Gyeltshen is a Bhutanese poet who speaks of nature, spirituality, and human existential experience.
I have readThe songs of Drugpa Kunley (1455–1529)
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I have written... nothing ...
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an improbable book that has always been in my Polyglot Library
I am happy that I am a free Yogi.
So I grow more and more into my inner happiness.
I can have sex with many women,
because I help them to go the path of enlightenment.
The songs of happiness of Drugpa Kunley
Among the books in Polish I possess since I was a teenager there is a tiny yellow volume illustrated with strange drawings. It was published during the edition boom of the early 1990s, when the Poles, liberated from communism, discovered a sudden appetite for strange, unorthodox, and vaguely erotic reading. The little booklet is entitled Życie i nauki szalonego tybetańskiego jogina Lamy Drugpy Kunleya. For a long time, I had no hint whatsoever to connect this little curio with any larger cultural context. Much less did I expect to have any item of Bhutanese literature in my book collection. But the fact is that I had, and there is a very interesting story behind it.
Drugpa Kunley, also called the Madman of the Dragon Lineage, was a Buddhist monk living on the brink of the 15th and 16th centuries. Not quite an individual madman, rather a member of a traditional madness school, described as the Nyönpa. Having obtained his training in the Ralung Monastery in western Tibet, he immortalized himself by the introduction of Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan, as well as by his poetry. He built a chorten (i.e. a stupa) in the place where the Chimi Lhakhang (Monastery) was to develop over the subsequent period.
The most famous achievement of this holy person was to bring illumination, more specifically to women, through the use of his... well, the whole thing has to do with sex, but we are certainly oversimplifying and misinterpreting this venerable tradition. Drugpa Kunley is also believed to have introduced the practice of phallus paintings in Bhutan (by which we should understand esoteric paintings representing a sort of cosmic phallus, but he also "painted" with his penis, adding a golden touch of urine as a complement to some artistic masterpieces). Anyway, it was not a normal penis, it was the Thunderbolt of Flaming Wisdom. There was also an oenological tradition connected to the whole affair, and even today the tiny Chimi monastery is famous for its collection of weaved portable wine bottles as well as its holy lingam made of wood and ivory.
Drugpa Kunley, also called the Madman of the Dragon Lineage, was a Buddhist monk living on the brink of the 15th and 16th centuries. Not quite an individual madman, rather a member of a traditional madness school, described as the Nyönpa. Having obtained his training in the Ralung Monastery in western Tibet, he immortalized himself by the introduction of Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan, as well as by his poetry. He built a chorten (i.e. a stupa) in the place where the Chimi Lhakhang (Monastery) was to develop over the subsequent period.
The most famous achievement of this holy person was to bring illumination, more specifically to women, through the use of his... well, the whole thing has to do with sex, but we are certainly oversimplifying and misinterpreting this venerable tradition. Drugpa Kunley is also believed to have introduced the practice of phallus paintings in Bhutan (by which we should understand esoteric paintings representing a sort of cosmic phallus, but he also "painted" with his penis, adding a golden touch of urine as a complement to some artistic masterpieces). Anyway, it was not a normal penis, it was the Thunderbolt of Flaming Wisdom. There was also an oenological tradition connected to the whole affair, and even today the tiny Chimi monastery is famous for its collection of weaved portable wine bottles as well as its holy lingam made of wood and ivory.
