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Living Dharma: Religion, Nature, and Community in the Life of a Bhutanese Herder

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(Photo credit: Author, 2022) Respondent: Tshering is a 48-year-old yak herder from the highlands of Lingzhi located in Thimphu Dzongkhag (district) of Bhutan. As far as he is concerned, he has always been a herder. He has primarily lived in highlands and therefore has a deep understanding of its local customs and traditions. [Note: I have interviewed the respondent in the prescribed format. I have not had the chance to conduct ethnographic research. However, to fill in the gap, I have used general anthropological knowledge of the Bhutanese culture.] My interview with Tshering offers a glimpse of life in the highlands of Bhutan, where Buddhism and animistic beliefs co-exist, with the herders’ daily lives intimately linked to nature. To Tshering, finding a balanced and meaningful living is the practice of his religion. His daily life is influenced by his beliefs from which he derives meaning to the relationships he has with his family and his yaks. Tshering’s experiences relates wit...
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Whispers on Vulture's Peak

The sun was a hammer, relentlessly pounding as I clawed my way up Vulture's Peak in Rajgir. My lungs burned, and my legs screamed, but the promise of the summit – a place steeped in history and shrouded in legend – pulled me onward. Finally, I reached it. A wave of relief washed over me, quickly followed by a sense of quiet reverence. The wind, usually a bluster, seemed to hold its breath. And then, I saw him: an old man, the guardian of this sacred space, his face etched with the wisdom of the place. He greeted me with a smile that radiated warmth, a smile that seemed to say, "Welcome, you have come to the right place." We spoke, as travelers and keepers of stories do, and he, with a voice like rustling leaves, began to share the legends of Vulture's Peak. “They say,” he rasped, his eyes twinkling, “that right here, where we stand, the Buddha himself had an encounter most strange.” He gestured towards the craggy rocks, where the echoes of centuries seemed to whisper ...
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Himalayan Hallucination

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The Himalayas are one of the regions where traditional ideas of haunting range for mystery reports of specters and spirits in the chilly wilds, which is just as terrifying as everywhere else. The stories I'll be telling today are ones that I found eerie; it gave me goosebumps when my mother told me the stories of her village, which is located in the eastern part of Bhutan. As the realm of various spirits, gods, and ghosts comes to life in her village's forest, it is inhabited by demonic and unknown creatures. The eastern forest has long been described as a rough, spreading wilderness of icy valleys and rising peaks, which has remained firmly established in local legend and mythology. The story revolves around Aum Lamelame or Gradmu . They have been identified as deities of some form, but they are also spirits. We can't see them, but we can see them when Luck or Lungta isn't on our side. People who have observed these creatures claim that they had tire-like feet, the...
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