Buddhist Only


Written by Irsa Khan • Region • March 2011

The Kingdom of Bhutan is the only country in the world where Buddhism is the official religion and is endorsed by the government. The Buddhist faith therefore plays a fundamental role in the cultural, ethical and sociological development of Bhutan and its people, and has had a tremendous influence in shaping the Bhutanese society.

Propelled by the principles of Buddhism and following in the footsteps of the theological guidance of Buddha who preached peace, tolerance and harmony, one would think that this would have led to abiding religious tolerance, allowing for the co-existence of multiple faiths in Bhutan. Sadly, this is not the case.

In recent years, Bhutan has witnessed an official hardening of position by the Thimphu establishment not only to continue to support the state-backed version of Buddhism above all others, but to actively work to stamp out ‘competing’ or emerging religious schools.

Although Bhutan’s Constitution of 2008 states that a Bhutanese citizen is guaranteed ‘the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion’ and that no one can be compelled to belong to another faith, some of the starkest examples have been seen in the country, most notably in government’s clear anti-Christian bent.

In recent years, isolated cases of family disputes and suicides have even been officially explained as the results of Christian ‘infiltration’ into Bhutanese society. Religious intolerance in the kingdom was vividly highlighted when a burial site was denied for Father William Joseph Mackey when he died in 1995. Though he was granted Bhutanese citizenship and even the title Son of Bhutan in recognition of his work, he could not be buried in Druk Yul for being Christian. A man who committed suicide in 2009 in Sanchi due to a family dispute was projected by government officials, resulting somehow from Christianity coming to Bhutan. In 2006, two Bhutanese men were tried on charges of proselytizing after villagers of Nagu, in Paro, reported the two for preaching and screening movies on Christianity. Similarly, in 2010, a court in Gelegphug, sentenced a male Christian for three years on charges of creating ‘civil unrest’ by screening movies on Jesus Christ. One estimate puts Christians in Bhutan at about 12,000, of whom about half are from the south of the country. Overall, the number of non-Buddhist, non-Hindu population is thought to be over 65,000. The dominant Buddhist community, meanwhile, makes up close to three-fourths of the population and the Nepali-speaking Hindus are thought to make up less than 20 percent (though no official figures are available).

Although the Hindu minorities have been successful in seeking international attention for their rights in recent years, during the last two decades Bhutan had banned or demolished many Hindu places of worship in order to minimize the perceived threat that Nepali Hindus (most of them settled in the south of the country as refugees), would become increasingly dominant. Sanskrit pathshalas have also been closed whereas a group of Buddhist lamas, since the mid 1980s, were ordered to oversee religious functions of the Nepali Hindus and had to be hired by them to perform rituals during deaths, births or marriages.

Ironically, the oppressed minorities in Bhutan are not only from other faiths but include other Buddhist schools as well, where other sects like the Barawa, Kadampa, Chazampa and Bon etc. are forced to follow the Drukpa Kagyu form of Mahayana Buddhism that has strengthened through powerful political pressure over the past couple of centuries.

For the most part, these religious communities, present when Bhutan was evolving as a nation state, no longer exist today. There are no official figures available on how many people belong to the various Buddhist faiths in Bhutan, but Kagyu followers far outnumber the others.

If Bhutan wants to make its well-known idea of Gross National Happiness successful, seeking to promote its brand of religion would not serve the purpose. It would be one that works towards lowering the happiness quotient of the non-Buddhists within the population.