Filled with spirit - Director's Letter

My eyes welled with tears as we neared the end of our 11-day journey in Bhutan, the last independent Buddhist state in the Himalayas, tucked between India and Tibet. In every direction, the brilliant green panorama of towering mountains rose as high as 26,000 feet.

In Bhutan, cows and yaks graze, rice and wheat grow, and people live up and down terraced land that seems to kiss endless blue sky above and melt into pristine waters below. The people--beautiful, bronze-skinned, peace-loving--greet visitors with broad smiles and welcoming waves. The ubiquitous five-hued prayer flags flap in the wind, strung across mountain passes and meadows, bridges, rooftops, temples, and dzongs, the fortresses once used for battles that now house civilian leaders and monastic communities.

I was struck by how much Americans have materially and how much the Bhutanese have spiritually. The typical family lives in a primitive, two- or three-story farmhouse built with help from the community, with walls made of concrete or tamped earth. Often lacking electricity, families cook over an open fire, which provides their heat. Furnishings, if there are any, are sparse. But their altar rooms, used for spiritual practice, have elaborate carvings and painted floral and geometric shapes. Monks come once a year to bless the home, and the sound of chanting and horns fills the air--we heard it everywhere we went.

We shopped at local markets, marveling at bells, drums and brightly colored weavings, and visited temples and dzongs where the art and architecture is surprisingly elaborate and breathtakingly beautiful. Our guide told us many Buddhist stories, which serve as both folklore and moral code. All this in a country where many walk barefoot in winter, but their unstrained smiles reveal no discomfort. On the final day of our trek, a family invited us into their farmhouse, offering us cookies, toasted rice and butter tea. We left more than sated. Like the many other Bhutanese we met, this family's spirits filled our hearts.

May you journey to a simple, blessed place,

COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group