about crazy wisdom..

THE DIVINE MADMAN

poornachandra

It was my first visit to Thimphu, a couple of months into my tenure with IMTRAT, the Indian Military Training Team. Being an inhabitant of the Haa valley, I had not been to the capital of Bhutan thus far. I decided to head for the BBS tower at the edge of the town, the best vantage point to get a bird’s eye view of Thimphu. On my way I came across a nature preserve which was supposed to be the home for a few captive Takins, which had wandered into towns in search of food, made a nuisance of themselves and become too accustomed to humans for their own good. I walked along the perimeter fence of the enclosure, hoping to sight of a Bhutan Takin, christened Budorcas taxicolor whitei by zoologists. It took some patience and perseverance to spot the first one amidst the vegetation, but the sight was worth it. It was startling to look at one of the world’s least known mammals. The Takin is a hairy, hoofed herbivore with hunched shoulders, a short, thick neck and a large, broad face with small ears, a bulging nose and rearward-curving horns. Extremely elusive, it dwells in the dense forests of Bhutan’s wilderness where, despite its size and bulk, it can run up steep slopes with the agility and grace of an antelope.

As I delved into more details, I found that the story of the Takin is as astounding as its looks. The Takin was chosen Bhutan’s national animal based on its uniqueness and its strong association with the country's religious history and mythology. According to legend, when Tibet’s great folk hero and saint Lama Drukpa Kunley visited Bhutan, a large flock of devotees gathered to witness his magical powers. The people urged the lama to perform a miracle. However, the saint, in his usual unorthodox and outrageous way, demanded that he first be served a whole cow and a goat for lunch. He devoured these with relish and left only bones. After letting out a large and satisfied burp, he took the goat's head and stuck it onto the bones of the cow. And then with a snap of his fingers, he commanded the strange beast to rise up and graze on the mountainside. To the astonishment of the people the animal arose and ran up to the meadows to graze. This animal came to be known as the Dong Gyem Tsey and to this day, this rather clumsy animal is revered along with its creator, Drukpa Kunley.

Lama Drukpa Kunley, the patron saint of Bhutan, belonged to the Drukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism established by Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa. Like Milarepa, Drukpa Kunley was a Maha Siddha. But unlike Milarepa who was a celibate teaching by means of music and poetry, Drukpa Kunley adopted the tradition of “Crazy Wisdom”, and is celebrated as an enlightened eccentric. In addition to poetry and song, he used dance, humour, drink and to great effect sexual union, to teach his generation the lessons of spiritual life in the unique Tantric way. Often he taught in exchange for Chang (liquor). Well known to the common people of Himalayas through the oral tradition of legends and songs, as well as to scholars and mystics worldwide through his biographies, he is greatly loved by all the people of Tibet and Bhutan as the “Divine Madman”.

Drukpa Kunley was born in Tibet in the year of the Wood-Pig in the eighth cycle, corresponding to 1455 AD, into the branch of the noble Gya clan of Ralung. The saint’s full name is Kunga Legpa’i Zangpo, which is shortened to Kunga Legpa, or simply Kunleg or Kunley. His title “Drukpa” indicates that he belongs to the Drukpa Kagyu spiritual lineage, and that he is associated with the Land of the Dragon, Bhutan. As one who has attained Buddhahood and been a Guru to innumerable contemporaries and disciples in succeeding generations, he is called “Lama”. He is referred to by various epithets that highlight his revered spiritual qualities and describe his great character –

* “Chos-rje” or “Master of Truth” for his mastery of Buddha’s Dharma and its practice,
* “Gro-ba’i Mgon-po” or “Lord of Beings”, a sobriquet of the liberating Buddha of Compassion,
* “Naljorpa” or “Yogi” being a wandering saint proficient in meditation and paranormal manipulation of the physical elements,
* “Drubtob” or “Siddha” meaning an “Adept” who has gained ultimate realization of reality and relative magical powers, and
* “Jadral”, loosely translated as “Duty-Free” and interpreted as “Spontaneous and Uninhibited”.

As a child Drukpa Kunley was extremely precocious and had full memory of his previous incarnations. After his father was killed in a family feud, he became disillusioned with the world and dedicated himself to a religious life, eventually becoming a monk. In his early twenties, he gave up his robes and became a wandering mendicant, travelling across the country and gaining mastery of the spiritual arts. He attained Buddhahood as a consequence of gruelling practice of contemplation and meditation. This difficult training was obtained in the austere environs of monastic school, after instruction and initiation by learned Lamas. This learning took place at the Drukpa Kagyu school (The Red Hat tradition) at Ralung in Southern Tibet, which was established by Palden Drukpa Rimpoche, Kunley’s ancestor. Once he had attained his goal, at a remarkably young age, he transcended the precincts demarcating the various schools, and became the universal mystic without traditional boundaries. As he travelled through Tibet and into Bhutan, Kunley purposely spurned accepted ways of behavior as a method of calling attention to the hypocrisy, selfishness and greed of the world and thus lead people to adopt honest and spiritual lives.

Much like the “Pagla Babas” or “Mad Saints” popular in Indian folklore, Drukpa Kunley taught through outrageous behavior and coarse humour in order to awaken the people he met to a higher awareness free from conventional morality and self-obsession. In particular, he took his female friends and disciples along the path of sexual desire and relationship to free them from attachment to the illusory world and to awaken their dormant spirituality. This ribald attitude towards females of all ages earned him the title “The Saint of 5000 Women”. Scholars compare him with a contemporary French Renaissance monk and writer Francois Rabelais who mixed in his books elements from different narrative forms - chronicle, farce, dialogue, commentary etc. and peppered them with broad popular humor. With his flood of outrageous ideas and anecdotes Rabelais emphasized the physical joys of life - food, drink, sex, and bodily functions connected to them - and mocked asceticism and oppressive religious and political forces. Likewise, Drukpa Kunley ridiculed monasteries and constantly taunted monks with jest and insult to dissolve their hypocrisy and hidden faults. Lack of inhibition, care-free renunciation, compassion, tears and laughter combined with a skilful use of the excess as shock-therapy characterized his “madness” which was an external manifestation of “spiritual joy”.

Reading the legends of Lama Drukpa Kunley gives an insight into the idea of divine excess. He was totally irreverent and ridiculed the establishment, especially corrupt and self-seeking monks. He performed magical feats and miracles like the creation of the Takin. There are several instances when he slaughtered animals for their meat and then, from their bones, restored them to life and sent them on their way. The Lama blessed or cursed families, based on their moral treatment of others. He turned tiny quantities of tea into copious amounts sufficient to quench the thirst of thousands. During his travels, he often transported himself instantaneously to far off locations, using his super-natural abilities.

The Divine Madman used his mystical talents and his penis or “Thunderbolt of Wisdom”, to exorcise evil spirits and subdue demons that tormented the people, before turning them into protective deities. This activity was a matter of duty and pleasure for Drukpa Kunley because he wished to liberate the people of Bhutan from animistic superstition and instinctive, fearful response towards natural and elemental forces represented in legend as “demons”. In one such fable, the Lama subjugated the demoness of Dochula pass by hitting her over the head with his “Vajra” or “Dorje”. The legend of Drukpa Kunley’s magical Thunderbolt of Wisdom is celebrated at the Chimi Lhakhang constructed in 1499. This temple is situated on a hillock near Yowakha village in the Punakha valley, and is famous as the temple of fertility due to the numerous wooden phalluses kept in the monastery. The longest, a brown wooden one with a silver handle, is believed to have been brought there by Drukpa Kunley himself, and so is the most important. It is considered a religious relic and is used for blessing the devout. The pious people who come to pray at the lhakhang are blessed on the head with it by the presiding Lama. It is strongly believed by the devotees that praying at the monastery can bless a childless couple with children. Another place of worship bearing the footprint of the Lama is the Tango monastery at the Northern end of the Thimphu valley. Lama Gyalwa Lhanampa founded this monastic school in the 12th century, and the present building was built Lama Drukpa Kunley.

The great master Drukpa Kunley spent his years wandering across Tibet and Bhutan, selflessly utilizing his spiritual powers to teach and transform, subjugating spirits of the land, bringing water to parched earth, blessing the childless with sons, giving wealth to the poor and knowledge to the ignorant, and guiding the aimless towards the path. Like the Buddha, the Divine Madman was affected by illness after he decided that his work of enlightenment was done. At the age of one hundred and fifteen years, in the year of the Iron-Horse corresponding to 1570 AD, the Crazy Adept attained Nirvana. To provide a significant omen to perpetuate his message to mankind, he did not dissolve his body completely, but left his bones behind in the form of various Buddha images.

It would be apt to conclude this narrative of Drukpa Kunley’s legend in the revered Lama’s own words –

“If you think I have revealed any secrets, I apologize;
If you think this a medley of nonsense, enjoy it!”

“OM MANI PEME HUNG”

2007