Event festivities highlight compassion, harmony, and cultural heritage, writes Jitsiree Thongnoi in Bhutan

The Global Peace Prayer Festival opens at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu on Nov 4 and will run until Nov 19. Jitsiree Thongnoi

Buddhist devotees from near and far have gathered in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, for the Global Peace Prayer Festival, from Nov 4-19.

The event is being held in Changlimithang Stadium, one of the highest in the world at 7,500 feet above sea level, to pray for world peace.

The prayer is being overseen by Buddhist masters from Bhutan, belonging to the Vajrayana school, and others from the Mahayana and the Theravāda schools from China, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

The festival is also a commemoration of the 70th birth anniversary of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the father of the present king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Five decades ago, His Majesty announced the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), a counter-narrative to consumerism.

Today, Bhutan remains the world’s only carbon-negative nation, with its constitution requiring that forests cover at least 60% of its land area. It limits the number of tourists annually, charging a Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) of US$100 (3,250 baht) per person per night for most foreign visitors.

A hotel receptionist in Thimphu told the Bangkok Post that the festival has brought in more bookings. Some are from Thailand, she said, but added that the number of Thai tourists has been lower following Covid-19.

Venerable (Ven) Choten Dorji, secretary of the Bhutanese Monastic Council for Administration and Development Affairs, told the Bangkok Post that the country expects between 7,000 and 8,000 tourists to attend the festival, with the SDF waived for 100 followers of a Buddhist master invited to preside over the recitation ceremony. There are representatives from 165 different religious organisations, both within and outside Bhutan, at the event, he added.

“The festival aims for global peace and happiness,” said Ven Choten. “It is to bring in spiritual masters from different schools of Buddhism to bring the collective effort of prayers and positive energy, so that this mass recitation creates a condition for world peace and happiness,” he said.

“The world today is troubled by conflict, war and discord. Bhutan is a small country; we have nothing to show in terms of the economy. But in terms of tradition and culture, we are able to uphold our integrity.”

The festival is deeply rooted in the GNH philosophy and Vajrayana Buddhism, which arrived in Bhutan in the 8th century. Bhutan’s constitution still upholds Vajrayana as the nation’s spiritual heritage, guiding ethics and governance through compassion, non-violence, and harmony with nature. Organisers say that the festival’s activities reflect these concepts.

The Jabshi Gyap, a ritual that combines peaceful offerings and a process aimed at expelling negative karma, is held at the Kuenselphodrang, locally known as the Buddha Point, where a large Shakyamuni Buddha statue is situated atop a hill in Thimphu.

There will also be a mass ordination of bhikkhunis, or Buddhist nuns. “GNH also involves no gender disparity, too,” said Ven Choten.

Ven Choten, who holds a PhD in Textual Studies from Mahidol University in Thailand, summed up the convergence of Buddhists at the festival as them having “one aspiration: to become universal peacemakers, even though we come from different schools or traditions”.