[Written by David Oct 8, 2009]

The Taktsang (Tiber’s Lair) hermitage is located on the face of a
sheer 3,000 ft cliff above the Paro valley. The trail up to the
hermitage is steep and requires a lot of knee action, so Cynthia
decided wisely to sit this one out. Sangay and I set out in a light
rain and thick clouds; we had no idea what we would be able to see
when we got there. But as we moved up, the clouds lifted and the rain
stopped and the hermitage came into view in all its glory.

The several temples have been recently rebuilt as they were destroyed
by fire in 1998. The new temples have been authentically restored and
are quite impressive.

The head lama, Lama Dorje is a freind of Sangay, so he invited us in
for tea. Apparently he is a highly revered and well known lama who has
many disciples. I used the opportunity to ask him what was the most
important teaching of Buddhism to be remembered.

He replied simply, “learning to control the mind”.

At dinner yesterday evening, Cynthia and I were talking with Sangay
about the phallus symbols that we saw in some temples. Today, Sangay
asked the lama what the meaning was of these. He said that there was
no meaning in Buddhism. He though that perhaps they were put there by
lay monks who did not fully understand.

According to Sangay, the mages of phalluses painted on the walls of
people’s homes and the wooden phalluses suspended from the roof
corners were believed to protect the home from evil spirits. He didn’t
think they were fertility symbols..

Obviously the phallus had prominent role among the clowns or jesters
during the sacred dances we saw in Jakar. They made quite a display of
miming sexual activity, often directly with members of the audience,
especially the tourists. There is certainly a great deal of overlap
between the role of the phallus in Bhutanese culture and its role in
Buddhiist temples.

I also asked the lama about the meaning of the AK-47 rifle that we saw
in two temples we visited. He said that the protector dieties have
always had weapons — originally swords and bows and arrows, and that
the AK-47 was just another weapon for protection.. He said that
ideally, the protective dieties would have all the weapons of the
world, but since they couldn’t all be included, these would have to
suffice.

We heard a story about how long ago a lama created a miraculous animal
from the bones of a goat and an ox. The animal, called the Takin is
the national animal of Bhutan. It does in fact resemble a goat, but
it’s much larger. The information at the Takin refuge says that it has
been difficult for taxonomists to classify the animal, given its
unique characteristics.