Paro valley, Bhutan

About Bhutan

The Kingdom of Bhutan is a country situated in the Eastern Himalayas. The country is known as Druk Yul "Land of the Thunder Dragon” and its people are known as ‘Drukpas’. The term comes from its state religion, which is the Drukpa Kagyud. Bhutan, the last independent Himalayan Buddhist Kingdom very fondly maintains its tradition. It has one foot in the past and one in the future.The high Himalayas in the north separate the kingdom from the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, while the rocky eastern region borders the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, in the South by Assam and West Bengal, and in the West by Sikkim.

Roughly the size of Switzerland (46,500sq. km) and populated by less than 700,000 people, can be called a small and under-populated country when compared to its giant neighbors. Contrary to its size, Bhutan is composed of a large variety of people group, from the yak herders in the North and the orange growers in the south. The little Kingdom has an extraordinary ecological diversity. It is about 300 km West to East, and 150 km from North to South.

Ancient stone implements and other archaeological findings indicate that there were settlements in Bhutan dating back to 2000 B.C. The chronicled history of the Kingdom however begins with the advent of Buddhism in the 8th century.

Besides the Great Himalayan range, which runs east to west, the entire country is mountainous, and ranges in elevation from 100m to the 7054m. Between each valley, passes are as high as 4000m, which has led to difficult communications between the different valleys. From South to North, Bhutan is roughly divided into three zones.

Buddhism in Bhutan

Devotee Praying to Stupa

The Vajrayana branch of Mahayana Buddhism is practiced by 80% of the population of Bhutan and is the state religion. Hinduism is predominant among the people of Southern Bhutan and covers 20% of the population. Buddhism, like Hinduism, finds its roots in India and it is generally divided into two great schools: the Mahayana, “Greater Vehicle”, and Hinayana, “Lesser Vehicle”, nowadays more commonly known as Theravada. The Sanskrit word Yana, meaning “vehicle”, suggests a path which leads sentient to higher states depending on their deeds. Bhutan is the only independent Mahayana Buddhist country in the world today. It is generally thought that Buddhist teachings arrived in Bhutan in the 7th century A.D., when the first two temples of Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro, and Jampa Lhakhang in Bumthang, were built in the first half of the 7th century. Lhakhang Karpo and Lhakhang Nagpo, both in Haa valley also date from the same period.

However, the major growth of Buddhism in Bhutan started in the 8th century A.D with the visit of Indian saint, Padmasambhava, popularly known in Bhutan as Guru Rinpoche, “the precious master”. His teachings laid the foundation for one of the most important and unifying forces in the development of Bhutan’s unique culture and tradition. Now the Kingdom’s religion has become its way of life. Bonism was widely practiced before the advent of Buddhism. Many of the mountains and local deities, which the people worship today were originally gods belonging to the original Bon religion and who, as a result of Padmasambhava’s work, were taken into Buddhism as the protector deities.

From the 13th century on, many religious masters from Tibet came to Bhutan and spread the teachings of their schools such as Sakyapa, Drukpa Kagyupa, Kathogpa, and Nyingmapa. Many of these schools were able to establish only small temples, and in the course of time merged with other schools. Today, Drukpa Kagyupa and Nyingmapa are the two most prominent schools in Bhutan.

Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651), who unified Bhutan into a single state and built many Dzongs (fortresses), codified the teachings and traditions of Buddhism now followed in Bhutan. To uphold these traditions, he appointed eight great disciples in the fields of lineage, oral tradition, religious law, and ritual, which are carried on today as the living tradition of the country.

Monarchy and Political System

His Majesty with his People

Bhutan has been an independent kingdom for centuries and is ruled by a hereditary monarch since 1907. The present King, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuk, initiated many reforms of the political system, the most significant being that he relinquished his post as the Head of the Government during the 76th National Assembly in 1998. His Majesty is now the Head of the State.

Members of the National Assembly are composed of 150 elected members and meets twice a year for a month. It is a legislative body and discusses all the issues concerning the country and also passes laws and acts.

The country is composed of 20 districts (Dzongkhags) each headed by a provincial governor called Dzongda.

Since the decentralization process, which started in 1981, a lot of importance and full authority, especially in the field of development and local activities, has been given to the district and rural areas namely the DYT (Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogchung) at the district level and GYT (Gewog Yargay Tshogchung) at the village/block level. During Bhutan’s 9th Five-year plan (2002-2007), all development plans and activities are to start from and be implemented at the village/block level.

Development Philosophy(Gross National Happiness)

Bhutanese Folk Song

Three factors have put forth great influence on the course of Bhutan’s development. The first being the culture. As Bhutan was never conquered or colonized, the country developed a culture relatively free from outside influence, the institution of monarchy, and a deep sense of nationhood. The second factor is the environment, which is protected by mountainous, often difficult terrain. Thirdly, Vajrayana Buddhism has given the country a view of the world on which the 3rd and 4th Kings based their policies of developing Bhutan’s potential in every field. This continuing development of Bhutan has been crystallized in a philosophy crafted by His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, known as Gross National Happiness (GNH) in the late 1980s. The concept of the GNH defines Bhutan’s development objective as improvement in the happiness and satisfaction of the people rather than growth of Gross National Product (GNP). GNH has been the overarching development philosophy of Bhutan as the concept has guided the country’s development policies and programmes. GNH suggests that happiness is the ultimate objective of development. It recognizes that there are many dimensions to development other than those associated with Gross National Product (GNP), and that development needs to be understood as a process that seeks to maximize happiness rather than purely economic growth.

The country believes that for a holistic development of the individual and society, it is essential that development achieve a sustainable balance between the economic, social, emotional, spiritual and cultural needs of the people. This has led to the declared objective of viewing development as a continuous process towards achieving a balance between the material and intangible needs of individuals and society.

The concept reminds the country that the means must always be considered in terms of the end and, therefore, every step in material development and change must be measured and evaluated to ensure that it will lead to happiness, not just more development.

The four major areas as the main pillars of GNH:

1. Economic growth and development.
2. Preservation and promotion of cultural heritage.
3. Preservation and sustainable use of the environment.
4. And Good governance

Guided by the ideas of Gross National Happiness (GNH), Bhutan has been making steady progress in every sector toward the goal of modernization. Hydroelectric power, economically the most signification sector for Bhutan’s goal of self-sustaining development, has grown impressively. The education, social services and health sector have made great strides forward and continue to be the most important social components of the country’s development programme. The government‘s fiscal situation has been improving steadily. Progress has been made in the development of human resource and the legal infrastructure.