Morning Ride up to Big Buddha
169 foot Buddha Dordenma sits above Thimphu Valley, overseeing all 
the happenings in the capital. It is the tallest sitting Buddha on the planet, and given that it has recently been completed, there is a 3-month puja happening right now. Three months of puja is a LOT of prayers said for all sentient beings—can you hear them?! Given the auspiciousness of the event, hundreds of people from all over have flocked there to partake. I rode up the hill this morning to check it out. One of the biggest inspirations (and perplexities) for me here in Bhutan is the devotion to Buddhism as well as Bhutanese implementing that devotion into their day to day lives. So when I witness hundreds in one place, doing just that—at 6:30 on a Monday morning—I feel quite moved emotionally. Today I got to, once again, feel that deep warm feeling of hope for humanity. In essence thats what Bhutan feels like to me. Hope for humanity.
A couple very-Bhutanese moments: Since I was kindly told it wasn’t ok to have a bike on the property, a police officer was assigned to not only watch my bike as I wandered around, but let me know a couple times that it was being well taken care of. After helping an older monk move a heavy cart filled with huge baskets of rice around an obstacle, he very enthusiastically shook my hand and hugged me multiple times. Such is life as an outsider in Bhutan. Hope for humanity.
Happy Monday morning from Bhutan! Tashi Delek.
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