Last weekend Sarah and I visited Buddha Point. Although we see it in the mountains above us whenever we’re in town, this was the first time we actually trekked up the road to be near it.
The statue is about 50 meters tall, and hollow, with thousands of tiny Buddharupas on the shelves inside, as well as a few of the larger Buddhist icons typical of temples in the region. It’s surrounded by one of the few outdoor areas in Thimphu that is kept meticulously clean, and gives you one of the best views of the valley that can be reached by car. In front of the statue is a small kiosk with signs about its origins and purpose, claiming that “the project will benefit… all sentient beings,” and asking for donations.
Despite living in Bhutan, I haven’t made time to learn very much about Vajrayana Buddhism. But based on what I do know, it’s difficult to reconcile the extravagance of a 50-meter-tall, gold-gilded statue with the Middle Way. The project is said to have cost over a hundred million US dollars, and I can’t help but think of the roads, schools, hospitals, or farming technology that money could have paid for.
I have a complicated relationship with Buddhism. Before coming out here, I had a vision of Buddhism as fundamentally peaceful, the only major world religion whose history isn’t sullied by violence and empire (something I’ve come to learn is not really true). During our time here, we’ve heard Buddhist philosophy used to entrench class and gender hierarchies, to inspire blind trust in a country’s leaders, and to justify nonintervention in others’ suffering. But we’ve also heard it used to promote universal compassion and mindfulness. It makes me wonder how much these ideas are actually justified by scripture, and how much they are preexisting cultural values that people have manipulated their religion to encompass.
Part of me wants to start reading some Buddhist texts so that I can learn about the “real” Vajrayana tradition, but isn’t the actual practice (justified or not) at least as real as the theory behind it?
The statue at Buddha Point is beautiful, and impressive, but it left me with no great spiritual awe. I appreciate the statue most when I view it not as an expression of religion or ethics, but as an extravagant celebration of Bhutan’s history and pride as the last Buddhist Kingdom.
