My mother told me tales about a certain Pangpi Lam, who went
to Nub Tshonapatra, a lake west of Haa, to fetch golden pillars growing on the lake's bottom. He took a group of carpenters who
were to fell the golden pillars when he vanished the water from the lake. The
carpenters were instructed to take the gold splinters from the
one-foot margin they were given for chopping.
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| Nub Tshonapatra (Tsho Na Pa Tra) Picture: Dechen Pema |
Lam fled with some treasures he had extracted from the
lake, which he threw one by one to distract his pursuer. Each time he dropped an
object, a portion of water settled over it and formed a small lake. The lakes
were called Nga Tsho (Drum Lake), Dung Tsho (Trumpet Tsho) and so on, named
after the treasures they were concealing. When the Lam finally reached his
monastery, the water retreated, and by then, Lam had only a cymbal with him.
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| Nub Tshonapata and all the other lakes |
I thought it was another folktale until I learned the
presence of the single cymbal in Paro Dzong. It can be seen and heard during
the first day of Paro Tshechu. That made me interested in the story of Pangpi
Lam.
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| The single Cymbal in Paro Dzong believed to be from Nub Tshonapata |
Then I learned that there is a place called Pangpisa where
the legendary lam lived, wherein the name Pangpi Lam came. His real name was
Terton Sherab Mebar. I was told his body was preserved to this day. It even
connected to the famous Pangpi Reip, the medicinal ball reputed to
cure any form of internal infection, including cancer. The Reip was said to be rolled out
from the dust gathered from terton’s remains.
All these fragments of mythical and historical information
finally formed proper shape and fitted together on 24.06.2015 when I visited
the very place, which is now called Ugyen Guru Lhakhang, in Pangpisa. Thanks to
my friend Sonam Ura for making a special arrangement for our team on the day
they had all the treasures on display.
Despite the bad road, a huge crowd has come
to receive blessings from supernatural objects. Our team patiently waited
until late afternoon to take our turn. It was worth the wait because the crowd
had disappeared and we were just about twenty of us at the end. We sat around
the current Pangpi Lam, who had all the treasure displayed on his table.
The charming and witty orator began the history lesson, and
for the first time, I realized that Terton Sherab Mebar lived way before
Zhabdrung and even before Terton Pema Lingpa. He was believed to be born in
1267. As a passionate history student, what was very intriguing about him was
the specifics we could draw right out of the three tiny pecha (religious text)
written on palm leaves in his own handwriting. The two were said to have
details of his treasures and one about his own life.
As much as I love to share about the Terton, I am scared I
might dilute the great piece of history. Therefore I will dwell on certain
aspects of his life and legend and leave the rest to serious historians like Dr Karma Phuntsho to do
justice.
Terton Sherab Mebar is believed to have approached Bhutan through the Jomolhari,
where he was said to have discovered his first treasure on his way from Tibet. He continued to Bumthang through
Baylangdra in Wangdue. Once in Bumthang, according to his prophecy, he had to look for a girl called Pema
Chuki of a certain age to accompany him in discovering certain treasures, but that proclamation did not go well with the locals. It instead triggered suspicion, and the then ruler in Bumthang, who too had his eye on the
same girl, didn't want to believe in such a prophecy.
He demanded Terton to prove himself to the
people of Bumthang by discovering treasure from a nearby lake, the current Mebar Tsho. Terton resisted,
saying that the time hadn’t come for the Mebar Tsho treasures to be revealed.
He told them that three generations later, his own reincarnation, which we now know was Terton Pema Lingpa, would come to
discover treasures from the lake. This only added more suspicion, and he came under tremendous pressure to prove
himself by going to the Mebar Tsho with a burning lamp in his hand. He came out
with two chests of treasures that he returned to the lake immediately to be
rediscovered generations later by the rightful Terton, Pema Lingpa.
He seemed to have failed to win the goodwill of the people or the ruler of Bumthang because he could neither marry Pema Chuki and nor discover the treasure he was destined to do in the company of the prophesied
khandro. This was the beginning of many events that would go wrong in
his life and ultimately cost him his life.
The subsequent failure happened in Pasakha, where he was prophesied
to discover a cave of gold, silver and salt. He meditated near the area and caused a
landslide that opened the cave door to endless resources, but it's said that he met three people carrying empty baskets on his way to the cave, which was considered
very ominous. He knew something was not right. By the time he reached the cave, everything had turned into rock and sand.
He finally reached Pangpisa through Sombaykha and Jabana,
the ultimate destination to which he was directed. It was here that he had to
wait till the age of 25 to head to Nub Tshonaparta to reveal the
world of treasure wealth that could sustain our country throughout times to
come. It was prophesied that he would visit the lake seven times in his
lifetime. But as restless as he was, and because of his reputation and the growing suspicion even
in Pangpisa, he had to leave for Nub Tshonapatra earlier than prophesized to
earn his respect back. That’s when the story my mother told me happened. It was a big failure. Thirty-two carpenters and workers were reported to have been killed that day.
In addition to what my mother told me, some folklore has it that Ap Chundu, the local
deity of Haa, was said to have negotiated between the Lam and the raging lake when he
was chased by the lake. An agreement was drawn stating that Pangpi Lam and his descendants would never cross Tego La towards Nub Tshonapata. This term of the contract is honoured by the people of Pangbisa to this day.
It's believed that Ap Chundu had a role in the actual prophesy to
accompany the Terton to Nub Tshonapata in extracting the golden pillar when the time was right but
Sherub Mebar had taken local carpenters ahead of the destined time to put an abrupt end
to the grand prophecy.
Terton, who was actually prophesied to live for ages and
discover many more treasures died an untimely death in his 30s in Baylangdra,
Wangdue.
The handwritten record left by Terton himself and the numerous
treasures he left behind support all the tales and events in more incredible details and
astounding preciseness.
In my next post, I will share about the thrilling journey of
Terton’s Kudung (body) from Baylangdra to Pangpisa and to Paro Dzong within the span of 700 years. Only the skull of Terton's Kudung survived today, and it’s back in
Pangpisa, which was on display on the day I visited.
