Monastic Breakfast in Bhutan
February 5, 2020 - Guests at Six Senses Punakha are invited to spend a memorable morning with the young monks at the Chorten Ningpo monastery. Rise and shine for a leisurely hike, traditional monastic breakfast and spiritual discovery.
According to local legend, Bhutan’s favorite patron saint, the Divine Madman Lam Drukpa Kunley (1455-1529), chose this hillside site to build a Chorten, a Buddhist shrine or blessing place, to bring peace to the lush Punakha Valley below. This magical spot was once a dense forest said to be inhabited by evil spirits. The great oak tree outside the monastery grew from the blazing log that the Divine Madman threw to subjugate the demons. Intriguingly, the bark is still burned black in places.
One-of-a-kind experience
A short drive or stimulating morning walk up the hillside near Six Senses Punakha, Chorten Ningpo is today a thriving monastic community including around 50 young novices and five teachers. Getting to know and supporting this community fosters better intercultural dialog and understanding, creating a deeper connection with our own cultural identity and each other. It is also at the heart of our “Responsible & Caring” value, which is core to the Six Senses DNA.
“I had an intuition that people would come to help,” says Lama Nado, who was sent here three years ago by Bhutan’s central monastic body to serve as head of the school. When he arrived, Chorten Ningpo operated as a simple Buddhist primary school. “There are so many very poor farming families in the surrounding villages, and I knew coming here could help to keep these children away from bad influences and give them a better life.”
Learn to live like the monks
Lama Nado exudes compassion, as you will feel in his presence. Yet a novice’s life at Chorten Ningpo follows a strict daily program, starting at 4:00 am with morning prayers, followed by classes including computer science, two hours of English lessons, music lessons on the trumpet, drums and bells, and evening debate sessions to learn Buddhist teaching and presentation skills. Two daily meals are simple but fresh, natural and hearty.
After taking up an invitation to join their morning rice and curry breakfast, the Six Senses team enjoyed the experience so much that this neighborly invitation has now been extended to guests.
Reciprocal benefits
For the community at Chorten Ningpo, your visit provides an opportunity to connect with worlds far beyond these hand-painted walls, as they share insights into the lives of young people of Bhutan today. Theirs is an inspiring example of how the old ways of Bhutan’s deeply entrenched Buddhist social network continue to play a meaningful role in the lives of young people.
Our guests have a rare glimpse into Bhutan’s past, present and future, by meeting and speaking with the novices of Chorten Ningpo. Lama Nado has big dreams for the children of Punakha. Already he has added grade levels and has launched a five-year building project, which includes a dormitory for the novices and guesthouse for pilgrims to this holy shrine. He aims to enroll around 100 novice monks per year.
Lama Nado raises funds over and above government funding in order to cover education, food, clothing, and housing for the other monks currently living here and towards his planned expansion. Six Senses Punakha provides funding to Chorten Ningpo through our Sustainability Fund. Visits to Chorten Ningpo Monastery provide further direct support to Lama Nado’s mission.
Six Senses Punakha, our Flying Farmhouse amidst the Rice Fields, is one of five lodges that are set in intimate and unique locations. The best way to gain a true understanding of this Kingdom rich in culture, tradition and spirituality is to journey through it. Tailor-made journeys between four and 10 nights enable you to explore at your own pace through Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey, Bumthang and Paro.
For more information, please contact the reservations department at reservations-bhutan@sixsenses.com or call +975 2 350 773.