APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Buddhist symbolism is seen in the two

The entrance to this monastery is elaborately hand decorated to bring energy through color to the building and worshipers.

Buddhist symbolism is seen in the two-dimensional format as well. Drawing and painting students go through the same levels of study as the ceramics students, but will eventually go on to paint images in and around sacred locations.

For the Bhutanese home and place of worship, color is very important. It stems from both nature and religious heritage, in which it becomes an integral part of visualization. Through visualization, the person meditating moves closer to his goal of enlightenment.

Pigments are made from vegetable dyes and are intricately painted to achieve an exact representation of historic religious symbolism. The entrance to this monastery, seen above, is elaborately hand decorated to bring energy to the building and worshipers through color and light.

A young monk rests outside his monastery.

Another specialty school in Bhutan is the monastic school to which families have historically sent at least one son. These children live in the monasteries and participate in a rigorous schedule of prayer and classes. This boy, however, was resting outside one of the mountain monasteries, watching the routine of daily life.

Bhutan’s monasteries date as far back as the ninth century and are erected solely from the volunteer work of devout citizens who don't operate from a blueprint or floor plan. Rather, they create these magnificent structures by placing bricks and stones on top and beside each other until the structure takes on the specific characteristics devoted to a certain deity.

Not only are these historically significant sites in which the concentrated energies of Padma Sambhava rest, but they are also actively filled with the harmonic chanting of monks and visiting pilgrims. In addition, monasteries are places where communities and villages come together. With the coming of the New Year, each valley holds a unique celebration in which their guardian deity comes to life through a series of dances and acted skits.

With prior arrangement, I was welcomed into the community at Wangdue as a dancer and documentary photographer. Here I spent three days filming the interpretations of Guru Rimpoche’s biography.

Sitting on the balcony with the locals watching and filming the three day New Year festival

Padmasambhava, popularly known as Guru Rimpoche, was born of the lotus flower and is known as the "precious teacher." He was a fundamental contributor to Tantric Buddhism throughout the Himalayas in 800 A.D. His teachings can now be seen as a series of "cham" dances performed around the tenth day of the new year (the Teschu), thus giving the festival its name.

Just as in any performance, the pieces must be marked and practiced. The monks and laymen must work together to synchronize their steps to the trance-like beats of the side-stage drummers. Their costumes, steps, and masks are equally important in portraying an accurate story.

The performance also contains sideshows in which community women sing a song and perform accompanying steps. Although they were not exactly an integral part of the show, I was amazed at the beauty of these women’s voices, especially as I heard them practicing in the guest house where I was staying. It was evening and the only light was that cast from the various candles placed around the house. My guide and driver had gone to a nearby village to drop off some mail, since that's the only way it's delivered in the rural parts of Bhutan. So I was sitting in this open room where I could feel a great breeze rushing through the open doors and windows. All the sounds were magnified through the hollow cement walls, particularly those of the women. The elegance of their voices echoed loudly, and even though they were singing in a different language, I felt as though I understood every word of what they were singing. I went to bed that night with a peaceful feeling.

The dance of the drums is part of a whole that describes Guru Rimpoche's life

This very spectacular and dramatic dance has very deep symbolic meaning: a sacrificial murder is performed. First the dancers representing the gods try to enclose the bad spirits in a circle and in a box.Once this is done, the main god who holds the phurbu, ritual dagger, kills them.He thus saves the world from them and he delivers them into salvation at the same time. >The man and the asuras (demi-gods) who became enemies of Buddhism, the source of happiness and benefit, do not have the chance to be converted by peaceful means.Hence Ugyden Rimpoche, who is the emanation of all the Buddhas, took the form of Dorji Dragpo “fierce Thunderbolt”.By slaying these enemies he liberated them into the superior sphere of bliss.By performing such an incredible feat which resulted in the happiness of the human world, he helped increased faith in non-illusionary acts.He was aided in this task by 4 main deities and the 9 gods of Gondu (a text).

(This is a description of one dance from the festival program.)

A Double rainbow shines brightly behind the Wangdue monastery

When I woke up around 5:00 a.m., my exquisite experience only improved as I looked out my window and saw a double rainbow landing on the hillside behind the monastery.

Instead of spending the whole next day at the festival, we took a morning hike down to a local village where the women had a carpet-making shop. They were working in a dark room, sitting on rice bags, and were the happiest people in the world. They were singing songs and, of course, laughing at me because I was taking so many photographs.

Standing at the door you can see the simplicity of the one windowed room in which these women spend their days making carpets to be exported to the United States and Europe.

This girl, about ten years old, has a great time as she spins the yak or sheep wool down to yarn

The photographs here show the process by which a carpet is made. The carpets are then most likely exported privately by a llama of a monastery, and sold at nearly three hundred percent over production cost. The women end up getting very little of that money.

Yak or sheep wool is collected and dyed with neutral-colored vegetable dyes. It's then wrapped around a wheel, made from iron and wood crossbeams, and spun into yarn.

The yarn then goes into handmade straw baskets, where a particular color can be chosen and inserted into the carpet.

Balls of yarn sit in a basket and are ready to be inserted into the rug when needed

Here you see that two women are working on one rug together.

Close up of woman feeding yarn through strings.

Two women work together to create one rug. As in modern loom weaving, the yarn is threaded through a series of stationary strings. It's pushed up with a large wooden rod, thus giving the rug its pattern and stability.

Here is a close-up view of one woman threading yarn through the strings. The main colors that are used are blue, red, orange, green, white, and black.

Another girl, about ten, is learning how to make rugs on her smaller-scaled loom. In no way did she seem concerned about unrighteous child labor. Instead, she was happy being with her family and learning a new skill. She was particularly interested in my taking photos, as were most of the children I encountered in Bhutan, and even wanted to learn how to take pictures, so we traded positions for a little while. She taught me how to weave, and I taught her how to take photos.

After a great emma-datsi (chili cheese) lunch and a quick game of khuru, in which a small dart-like object is thrown at a target on the ground about twenty feet away, we went back to the festival. I did some more filming, drank yak butter tea with the llama, and went for a little hike up the hillside to the prayer flags. As I sat at this spot, overlooking the monastery and valley, I felt the peaceful energy radiating through the hills and villages of that tiny country, and I knew my trip had been worthwhile.

A Broad Travels