207
The nation’s Constitution is a modern political miracle of fairness, and spiritual
jurisprudence. The Chairperson of the drafting committee was Lyonpo Sonam
Tobgye, who lives in Thimphu and was, until recently, Bhutan’s Chief Justice on her
Supreme Court. He is unquestionably one of the world’s current great legal minds,
an expert on Buddhist law. Like many in his country, he wonders about the challenges to a monarchy—a traditional Kingdom with a King everyone loves (the fifth
King), one who is not focused on his “re-election” in a matter of years, but holds the
perennial future of the country in his heart. As against the tumult and transiency that
a democracy, however vital, represents. He recognizes that Bhutan’s first democratic election, in 2008, was an important milestone for the nation. But he also
knows that democracy, in and of itself, is not a guarantee of the best in collective
human behavior, or the fair distribution of the most integral and ethical quality of
life to everyone. At least that is our interpretation of his writing after many extended
conversations. The United States, between 2016 and 2020, he cites as the perfect
example of widely emergent flaws in the normal rubrics of a democracy. And who
could disagree? India’s 2019 religious test for immigrants from neighboring, largely
Islamic, nations ignites an equally perilous challenge for the world’s largest social
experiment in alleged distributional justice.
In analyzing Article 5, Section 1 of the Constitution, Lyonpo Tobgye writes that
“Bhutan has been successful in preserving its fragile eco-system for the benefit of
the country as well as the world at large. [But] The people were understandably
worried because economic development and population growth has had a direct
impact on the environment….” And he singles out the critical income derived from
hydropower for the Bhutanese, now threatened with climate change, whose greenhouse gas signatures are generated outside Bhutan, the greatest of all paradoxes for
a nation spiritually devoted to the Buddhist fundament of an interdependent world.
Writes Lyonpo Tobgye, “In Bhutanese tradition, it is said: ‘Water, oceans, mountains, cliffs and wonderful trees are the abode of the local deities. Do not let it
decline. Preserve them as ornaments’”
4
(Fig. 22.2).
This issue of deities in Bhutan is not mere folklore. So-called Green House
Deities, of which the scholar Karma Ura identifies 392 (deities as well as spirits)
throughout Bhutan
5
, are believed to be able to “manifest in scientific, political and
cultural terms”
6
. Their ontological primacy fuels protection in every sense; translates into attitudes and the bioheritage recognition, from town to town, region to
region, of “citadels” and “sacred groves.” Some “are located at the headwaters of
springs and rivers” while others take sanctuary in mountains “perhaps holding in
their folds unknown vital crops and seeds in the wild. Only passing herders have
4 The Constitution of Bhutan – Principles and Philosophies, by Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye, Chairman
of the Drafting Committee, ISBN 978-99936-658-7-8, p. 125; See “
” [The
Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan] (PDF) (in Dzongkha). Government of Bhutan. 2008-0718; See also, The Judiciary of The Kingdom of Bhutan, Royal Court of Justice, Thimphu, Bhutan,
www.judiciary.gov.bt, n.d.
5 See Green House Deities and Environment, by Karma Ura, Thimphu, Bhutan, 2004, p. 44.
6 ibid., p.1.
22.1 The Pressure from Within
The nation’s Constitution is a modern political miracle of fairness, and spiritual
jurisprudence. The Chairperson of the drafting committee was Lyonpo Sonam
Tobgye, who lives in Thimphu and was, until recently, Bhutan’s Chief Justice on her
Supreme Court. He is unquestionably one of the world’s current great legal minds,
an expert on Buddhist law. Like many in his country, he wonders about the challenges to a monarchy—a traditional Kingdom with a King everyone loves (the fifth
King), one who is not focused on his “re-election” in a matter of years, but holds the
perennial future of the country in his heart. As against the tumult and transiency that
a democracy, however vital, represents. He recognizes that Bhutan’s first democratic election, in 2008, was an important milestone for the nation. But he also
knows that democracy, in and of itself, is not a guarantee of the best in collective
human behavior, or the fair distribution of the most integral and ethical quality of
life to everyone. At least that is our interpretation of his writing after many extended
conversations. The United States, between 2016 and 2020, he cites as the perfect
example of widely emergent flaws in the normal rubrics of a democracy. And who
could disagree? India’s 2019 religious test for immigrants from neighboring, largely
Islamic, nations ignites an equally perilous challenge for the world’s largest social
experiment in alleged distributional justice.
In analyzing Article 5, Section 1 of the Constitution, Lyonpo Tobgye writes that
“Bhutan has been successful in preserving its fragile eco-system for the benefit of
the country as well as the world at large. [But] The people were understandably
worried because economic development and population growth has had a direct
impact on the environment….” And he singles out the critical income derived from
hydropower for the Bhutanese, now threatened with climate change, whose greenhouse gas signatures are generated outside Bhutan, the greatest of all paradoxes for
a nation spiritually devoted to the Buddhist fundament of an interdependent world.
Writes Lyonpo Tobgye, “In Bhutanese tradition, it is said: ‘Water, oceans, mountains, cliffs and wonderful trees are the abode of the local deities. Do not let it
decline. Preserve them as ornaments’”
4
(Fig. 22.2).
This issue of deities in Bhutan is not mere folklore. So-called Green House
Deities, of which the scholar Karma Ura identifies 392 (deities as well as spirits)
throughout Bhutan
5
, are believed to be able to “manifest in scientific, political and
cultural terms”
6
. Their ontological primacy fuels protection in every sense; translates into attitudes and the bioheritage recognition, from town to town, region to
region, of “citadels” and “sacred groves.” Some “are located at the headwaters of
springs and rivers” while others take sanctuary in mountains “perhaps holding in
their folds unknown vital crops and seeds in the wild. Only passing herders have
4 The Constitution of Bhutan – Principles and Philosophies, by Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye, Chairman
of the Drafting Committee, ISBN 978-99936-658-7-8, p. 125; See “
” [The
Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan] (PDF) (in Dzongkha). Government of Bhutan. 2008-0718; See also, The Judiciary of The Kingdom of Bhutan, Royal Court of Justice, Thimphu, Bhutan,
www.judiciary.gov.bt, n.d.
5 See Green House Deities and Environment, by Karma Ura, Thimphu, Bhutan, 2004, p. 44.
6 ibid., p.1.
22.1 The Pressure from Within