Bhutan, the land of happiness (or satisfaction)
Bhutanese people fear a cultural decline because of tourism and new business relationships and are also afraid of environment defilement. They feel obliged to find out good solutions before the problem will arise. Such a traffic route could expand in a dirt track of waste. The plastic could even get into the food transit of some animals and could derail the food chain. Almost every Bhutanese has a mobile phone, even if they prefere to walk barefoot because they are used to it. With astonishing eyes, they look at the rest of the world via internet and television. They are very interested in the world, but are also afraid of it. They don't want let things get that way. The royal house is now its fourth generation. The young and very popular King Wangchuk is only the fourth king of the country. He's the king for only three years now. His beautiful wife as well had an excellent education. Because he's very sportive, he often appears on sports matches, but he also send daily messages on the radio to his population. Those messages are educational about hygiene and wealth, about health care, about contraceptives...
Because the country allows tourism step by step, it had to face with hepatitis A and hiv in a very short time. It' s pretty strange for them, because in this country, every woman is allowed to marry several men and vice versa (= polygamy and polyandry). Even noctural visits to other partners were allowed until recently and not demonized. We need some cultural relativism to interpret this without any judgment, but also crime and rape is not common here. During our trip, we didn't see any agitated drivers or quarreling children. The children were playful and happy, their parents proud and complaisant. The positive energy they emit, overtakes you right away after leaving the plane. The older generation is respected because of their life experience. Several generations live peacefully in one single stone house. They have one car, one television and they work on the field in family. The government has now large machinery for road construction. The free running horses and cows are everybody's property. Sometimes somebody stops to caress a horse or a cow. Animals are not slain, but if one dies, the meat will be divided. Most of the people live from field labor. For house and road constructions, a lot of seasonal workers come from India. Unfortunately, I think that these children are not capable of going to school and they also live in poorly camps. Does it have to do with their consentiously cultural protectionism?
Bhutan also controlls the wood chop, because a lot of animals, such as tigers, panthers, yaks and a wonderful fauna are still present in those rich wooded mountain landscapes. The valleys are very fertile and you often find there rice fields too. In summer, it's relatively hot, but winters are very cold. Roads are roadless then and schools closed. During the winter, the residents often stay inside and they live from stocks, collected on their ceiling and storerooms. Families often live in one single fired room during the winter days. Everybody is then busy with homecrafts. We asked our guide's employer about the secret of their balanced culture. He said, it's due to the Tantric Buddhism, their state religion that has found it's way in all aspects of social life, that also accept other religious experiences, but is not allowed to be practised. The vajrayana buddhism allows also changes, but is also alert because everything is focused on the perfect balance. In this tolerant buddhism, everything is based on gratitude and respect 'for all that exists'. Buddhists do not repudiate their cultural roots. They are proud of their rituals and there is no pressure to them. They are proud and they use it as a way to stay focused. (Prayers and meditations do not have to be practised in group, Bhutanese practise it all day long while working, sitting on the ground...). Just by the lack of all pressure about religious obligations?
These Buddhists are also tolerant towards other peoples and opinions. They were interrogating us all the time. According to Tashi, capitalism with his culture of greed and his yearn for 'more and more' can not grip on them, because people are still in contact with nature and with their spiritual self. They feel already rich, but in a way we can not imagine. Their families are honored and their tolerance is legendary. According to Tashi, the balance is lost in the rest of the world. Those people look television too: the never ending violence, the disruption of nature and the large-scale environmental defilement. For them, it's like religion has been completely seen in a wrong way because of the loss of spiritual purity. They are now mainly used for discrimation and violence purposes. "Because of their wars, their cultivated hate and religious violence, whole generations are charged with demons who are controlled by people without knowing. Our lamas and monks will not let things go that way. They try to keep the balance, because balance in this world, on this earth, is so fragile. They form a serious counterweight for all that fights 'the light'."
"We hope that our new freedom will not be developped in a non-freedom by possessiveness, by lust of power from the neighboring countries who are interested in our natural wealth to conquer new markets for the marketing
of their products. The loss of this precious cultural traditions can not be at the expense of so-called development. Even the acceptance of tourism can not require it's high toll." His younger colleague says; "This is the reason why we limit tourism and why we only allow 300 tourists a day." They usually stay two weeks and they are well informed by our guides about our rich culture. "Wisdom is not in the brains, you know? It is in our hearts that is connected with the thirth eye and everything you observe in anyway. You have to make the inside and outside world co-operate, this is the way to find balance. Purity is not the practice of compulsively rituals, because it's not limited to your acts. Purity of your mind, with tolerance and compassion is much more important because thoughts are powerful. Jealousy is an example of a very negative emotion that makes you slip away. There are so many other seductions...."
19-08-2015, 15:46 geschreven door catherine wheels 
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