| Mebartsho Gorge,
aka "Burning Lake" is to put it mildly, something of a damp squib.
Yet another bit of superstitious nonsense, but unlike most of the
others, lacking in any particular visual merit either. I mean,
quite pretty as rivers running through gorges go, but then Bhutan is
hardly short of rivers running though gorges, it being in the
Himalayas and all. So unless you are some kind of delusional
pilgrim, expect nothing more than a bend in the river overshadowed
by trees and with the mandatory tatty prayer flags strewn about the
place, plus candles... Apparently
this is where (yawn) Pema Lingpa " who was hailed as the fourth of
the five treasure finders who were emanations of King Drisong Detsen
was also the last of the five pure incarnations of the royal
princess Pemasel... in his 27th year brought forth the first of all
his profound treasures, the Luminous Expanse of the Great
Perfection..."
To cut a very long and characteristically
tedious story short, said enlightened one jumped in a lake with a
lamp in his hand and pulled out a box ..."as a consequence of which
everyone was amazed and became established in the faith of
conviction". Ah, those were the days! I doubt many of us
would be taken in by that nowadays:
"Here chuck, make that 747 disappear, go on
I dare you!"
"Oh no, unenlightened ones. But just
you watch me pull that box out of the river."
However, bearing in mind that clean,
flushing toilets are considered a miracle in Bhutan, it would seem
that the natives are easily impressed. |
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