Padmasambhava in Bhutan

Padmasambhava’s imprint on the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan is both meaningful and literal: prints from his body, feet, and hands are said to be embedded in the rock of sacred spaces all around the country.

Dr. Karma Phuntsho is one of the most renowned scholars and historians of Bhutan. This talk focuses on the lasting presence of the so-called Second Buddha in the Himalayan kingdom. Dr. Phuntsho will place particular emphasis on the legacy of concealed treasure teachings (terma), which Padmasambhava is believed to have transmitted through time and space to be uncovered decades and centuries later, and the treasure revealers (terton) who uncovered them.

Presented with Bhutan Foundation.

 

About the Speaker

Lopen (Dr) Karma Phuntsho was trained as a monk in Bhutan and India, and received a M.St and D.Phil in Oriental Studies at Balliol College, Oxford. He was a researcher at CNRS, Paris, and the Spalding Fellow for Comparative Religion at Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He is currently the president and the founder of the Loden Foundation and the director of Shejun Agency, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the documentation and study of Bhutan’s written heritage and oral traditions. He is currently based in Thimphu, Bhutan. He is the author of the History of Bhutan and The Autobiography of Terton Pema Lingpa.