Ooi! There's a Sentient Being in Your Offering!

A fly in your soup, or beer, takes on a different meaning in Bhutan. Here are some photos from daily life in this Buddhist Kingdom.

Stairway upstairs at Soenam Zinka.

Young monks prepare for a Puja on the birth anniversary of Guru Rinpoche at Jaemto Goempa.

Leather shoe on the stairs in Hatay.

Horns at the Jaemto Goempa wait to blow prayers to the wind. When I ask what is being prayed for the answer is most always "blessings for all sentient beings" or for those who speak English, "World Peace". What more would you ask for?

During the monsoon, as it builds slowly here in the Haa Valley, the green is building as well, day by day. Rain at some point every day seems to fill the spaces between the green with green.

We visited three Goempas or remote monasteries on the anniversary of the birth of Guru Rinpoche, each with a different flavor. At Tsenka Goempa, we were invited into the Puja, which felt like a drunken family Thanksgiving reunion. The others were more reverent affairs where women were not allowed and protocol strictly observed.

Bucolic Hatay. Just a short walk from the gate that separates Bhutan from Tibet. When we tried to pass through, the guard awoke from his nap and asked, with a smile, that we desist. China, it seems, is beginning again the testing of waters that signals claims on Bhutanese territory.

Even in this peaceful nation, cats and dogs fight like cats and dogs.

On my walk home from work after a difficult day, smiling children bring me back to center.