Personal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Burning Lake, Bumthang, Bhutan. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Burning Lake and navigate the world using Google Earth
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N 27° 32.369 E 90° 48.739
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Trongsa Dzong
Bhutanese women
Bhutanese monks
Kunzangdrak Monastery
Punakha Dzong
Petsheling monastery
Khamsum Yuelley Namgyal Chorten
Cheri Monastery
Bhutan phallic symbols
Bumthang Tsechu
Chimi Lhakhang
Ugyen Chholing Palace
National Memorial Chorten
Prayer flags
Tango Monastery
Thimphu Dzong
Rinchengang
Thowada Goemba
Tiger Nest Monastery
Visited: October 2009
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When my guide proposed to visit Burning Lake, I could not help but imagine a huge lake, surrounded by trees that are so abundant in Bhutan, with flames coming off the water. I did not even think this was a strange image, as I knew that the place has a deep religious place in Bhutanese Buddhism. I could imagine the place to have special powers. So, when we took the turn off the main road to Eastern Bhutan on our way back from Ura village, and started to climb on an unpaved road, I imagined we would climb much higher, and reach a large body of water. However, we stopped after a couple of minutes, and started to walk. OK, so we would hike to the lake - I had no idea how long it would take. Then, after a few more minutes, I understood we had arrived.
Obviously, I had to readjust my image - what is called a lake, actually is a widening in Tang Chhu river. Water flowing down Tang valley is squeezed through a narrow opening in the rocks, and forms a wider, more quiet, part of the river. Rocks are hanging over Tang Chhu, and almost take away the view you could have of the river when you are standing above it. This place unmistakably is a sacred place - bright coloured red, blue, yellow, green and white prayer flags everywhere, hanging on lines from one tree to another and spanning the river. We scramble down to water level, and as this place looks like a great pool, I am tempted to jump into the water and wash off the sweat of the day, but this is strictly not done in Bhutan.
The guide starts to tell me the story of this place. In the late 15th century, terton - incarnated disciple of Padmasambhava - Pema Lingpa had a vision that there were hidden treasures to be found at the foot of Tang Valley. These treasures had been indicated by Guru Rinpoche many centuries before. Pema Lingpa found a treasure - a sacred text which he translated, and which indicated he should return to the place. Since the local governor was skeptical about it, he held a butter lamp in his hand, told the crowd that he would only return with the treasures if he was right, with the lamp still burning. That said, he jumped into the pool we saw at our feet, remained under water for a long time, but when he resurfaced, he was not only holding another treasure, another sacred scroll, in his hand, but also a still burning butter lamp. Hence the name Burning Lake. Pema Lingpa would become the foremost important terton in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
