The Living Edens: Bhutan - The Last Shangri-la

February 28, 2000

I just finished watching the most amazing program on Discovery Channel.

Discovery's site describes it like " Bhutan, also known as the Land of the

Thunder Dragon, is the only remaining Buddhist Himalayan kingdom. Shrouded in

timeless mystery, Bhutan is one of the few surviving regions whose secrets have

passed undisturbed through the millennia. Since 95 percent of the Bhutanese

people remain subsistence farmers or pastoralists, they live in harmony with an

extraordinary diversity of animals, including the wild buffalo, red panda,

Himalayan black bear, takin and blue sheep. " I have never seen anything like it.

I am so deeply touched by what I just saw. Bhutan is the most beautiful place in

the world and the Buddhists who live there are the most amazing people. It was

about the interconnectedness of all life. There were so many amazing bits in the

episode... like how the Buddhists place the remains of their dead up in the

mountains to feed the animals as one last gesture of compassion and respect for

the animals and nature, and how the cranes (who they worship) fly around the

temple every year three times clockwise then land and do a dance, and the story

of the Four Friends which represents how every species depends on the other, and

how there are species of animals that live there and nowhere else in the world,

and the whole place is like a sanctuary and all the animals are safe and free,

and how Bhutan is the least deforested place in the world because Buddha

respected that forests have value in their own right and give so much to

sentient beings including " giving shade to the axe-man " ... It was

unbelievable... The good news is that it's on again and I highly recommend

checking it out. It's on March 5, 2000 at 5:00 PM (ET)

happens to be a Sunday so maybe we could all watch it together after brunch!

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