Jampa Lhakhag

 

Jampa Lhakhag

Around 1400 years ago, there was a giant demoness residing across the Himalayas in deep slumber. A Dharma king foresaw the existence of the demoness as a threat to the Buddha Dharma. So, in order to subdue the demoness, the King built 108 temples on various parts of her body to seal her fate. The task was achieved in a single day. And the extraordinary being to achieve the herculean task miraculously was none other than the 33^rd King of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century. Among the 108 temples built in a day by the Dharma King, two were built in Bhutan. The two temples are Jampa Lhakhang in Bumthang built on the left knee of the demoness and Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro built on the left foot of the demoness. So it can be said with certainty that the two Lhankhangs are the oldest Lhakhangs in Bhutan. The main statue inside the Jampa Lhakhang is Jowo Jampa who is known to be the future Buddha.

Picture courtesy- Karma Phuntsho (The History of Bhutan)

 

 

Why is Jampa Lhakhang considered special?

Among the 108 Lhakhangs built in a day by Songsten Gampo, Jampa Lhakhang is considered special because Songsten Gampo is said to have been there in person at the time of construction of the particular Lhakhang. To mark the auspiciousness of installing the statue of Jowo Jampa, Songsten Gampo is said to have fixed the three steps known as the (Kelpai Dhenthri) བསྐལ་པའི་གདན་ཁྲི which is visible at the entrance of the altar room housing the Jowo. Songsten Gampo is said to have fixed the Kelpai Dhenthri inside the Lhakhang as a sign of impermanence of life. It is said that the Kelpai Dhenthri sinks inside the ground every day. There are three steps but only two steps are visible above the floor. The step which is not visible indicates that the time of past Buddha which has exhausted. The second step is half above the floor which indicates the time of present Buddha which is slowly finishing. The third step indicates the time of future Buddha Jowo which has not yet come. So after seeing the Kelpai Dhenthri, pilgrims visiting the Lhakhang must understand the impermanence of life and pray to be reborn as the follower of Buddha Dharma even during the time of future Buddha- Jowo Jampa.

Songsten Gampo also constructed four chortens in four directions with four different colour enveloping the Jampa Lhakhang which indicates the four Kings of four directions. The four Chorten were installed as an exterior protective walls to prevent misfortunes from befalling inside. The shape of the Chortens also differ because Songsten Gampo is said to have constructed it as an antidote for natural disaster arising from the four elements. Among the 108 Lhakhangs constructed in a day by the Dharma King, most of the Lhakhangs are said to have undergone reconstruction due to war and natural disaster in the particular place except for Jampa Lhakhang.

Songsten Gampo built Jampa Lhakhang in person

The two pillars in the altar room are said to be the carpentry work of Songsten Gampo himself. While Songtsen Gampo was chipping the pillars, a local lady named Jazam is said to have walked to him with milk offering. As soon as he saw her, he is said to have fallen for her and in that moment with his magical power he is said to have transformed himself into 100 same looking men. The lady was puzzled by seeing same looking men and Songtsen Gampo also went blank for a while infatuated by the lady due to which he is said to have accidentally chipped an extra piece of wood from a pillar. The mark is still visible in one of the pillars in Jampa Lhakhang to this day. The walls in the altar room are said to hide treasures and Songtsen Gampo himself is said to have prophesied that treasure revealers will reveal treasure from the place in future. In the fourteenth century, Tertoen Dorji Lingpa is said to have discovered the first treasure which was hidden by Songsten Gampo. Dorleng treasures are said to have been discovered mostly from Jampa Lhakhang. After that Tertoen Sherab Mebar is also said to have discovered treasure from the Lhakhang. Later, Pema Lingpa worked on expansion of Lhakhang. The entrance of the Lhakhang which has a short door is said to have been made according to the height of Tertoen Pema Lingpa.

The story behind talking Jowo Jampa

In 8^th century Guru visited Kurjey and meditated there for seven days. After having completed his retreat, he is said to have gone to meet Chakkhar Gyalpo in his palace and spent some time there. During the last day, Guru is said to have announced that it was the last day of the ritual in that place and the next day ritual would start in Jampa Lhakhang. When Guru came to Jampa Lhakhang Sendha Gyap escorted Guru with his wife and his daughter Tashi Khyeudhen AKA Lhachi Bumden Tshomo. Lhachi Bumden is said to have requested Guru repeatedly for Dharma teaching and Guru then agreed to her and instructed her to cut his hair. While she was giving Guru haircut, a golden paper is said to have emerged from Gurus hair. When she asked Guru about the golden paper Guru told her that the parcel is from Mandarava.

Mandarava is said to have told Guru that she has a relative in Lhomon Bumthang from her previous life, to whom she wanted to send a parcel. Guru said that he does not have anything where he could carry her parcel. Mandarava convinced Guru that she would take care of that problem herself. Then she is said to have folded the golden paper neatly and put it inside Gurus hair.

So during the haircut the parcel came out of Gurus hair. Guru told Lhachi Bumden that it was for her. So Guru announced, “Today, I am submitting your parcel in front of Jow Jampa  and he is the witness.” Jowo Jampa is said to have spoken at the time. Apart from being the daughter of the King, Lhachi Bumden was also a woman bearing dakini features plus she had a strong dharmic link. That day she exhibited a strong faith and devotion and composed the praise verse ལྷ་ལྕམ་མེན་དཱ་ར་བ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། བུམ་ལྡན་ང་ལ་བྱིན་གྱི་རླབས་ཏུ་གསོལ། after that she requested Guru to reveal more from the golden paper. Guru unfolded the golden paper, looked at it and told that the letter says that he must give a dharma talk in that place. So Guru Rinpoche is said to have agreed to give Dharma teaching for the auspiciousness of the letter instructing him to give Dharma teaching and Lhachi Bumden requesting him to give Dharma teaching. When Guru asked what kind of Dharma talk he should give Lhachi Bumden is said to have requested the Dzogchen teaching. So Guru Rinpoche gave the teaching of Dzogpa Chenpo Selwai Melong at that place.