TRAVELLING THROUGH BHUTAN - LHADHING GOENPA, PARO

Few weeks back my family went to Lhadhing Goenpa in Paro for the 49th day recitals of my late uncle.

Lhadhing is believed to be very auspicious and beneficial for the dead. It took us around 3 hours on the rough road to reach the goenpa, I will not lie, I wished I had a pick up truck or a hilux. Anyways, after a long bumpy ride we finally reached there. Since Lhadhing is private owned goenpa, our family arranged for monks from Thimphu and we prepared all the meals from home (we heard that there was a major renovation going on and we didnt want to take any risk with the meals).

Renovation of the lhakhang

When we reached there, indeed there was a major renovation going on but the host (right next to the construction site was very welcoming and helped us with our arrangements). The renovation was coordinated by a group of Lams (along with some private funding, we all decided to pitch in a bit as well).

house of the host

Lhadhing Goenpa (now commonly known as Haydi by the locals) literally means "Gods and Goddess flying above" as per the legend, a hermit Tangsam had a dream that all the Gods and Goddess were flying above a lake and believing it to be an auspicious sign, the saint decided to build a lhakhang where the lake existed. The status were made and brought in from Tibet and the main status of the place is "Jowo, Buddha and Chenrigzig" It also houses five other status called the Ringa. The locals said that to this day, the floors of the lhakhang is always wet (since it was built over the lake)

Drupchu

The chorten

All the rituals were completed by two in the afternoon so we all had our lunch by 2.30 PM and then started packing everything. We gave our gifts to the host (for the hospitality and for letting us user her house and kitchen). By 3.30 PM we all started to pack our cars and start our journey back when a lam in our group decided to take us Lama Drukpa Kinley's Drupchu (holy water) and a chorten which was built by Lama Drukpa Kinley and where he mediated. Both the places are looked after by private owner.

Main gate

Then from there the group decided, they wanted to visit the army camp of border patrolling. When we reached there, it was a really beautiful place and we where told that it is just the base of the army camp and the real patrolling where done up in the mountains. There was nothing much to see but the visit was quite refreshing, I bet the people living there has clarity of mind and are refreshed at all times ^_^