Thangtong Gyalpo: iron bridge builder

Thangtong Gyalpo (Thang sTong rGyal po) is a historical figure reaching in the supernatural who impresses us with his versatility to liberate sentient beings. His teachings and writings are translated only partly. The far bigger part of his work is passed down traditionally. To a large extent, it is directly visible, learnable and conceivable in reality in the form of monasteries, bridges, plays and songs. Further, we meet this reality of the Mahâsiddha in another form: Living in Thimphu in Bhutan and studying in India is the 17th reincarnation of Thangtong Gyalpo, Ngawang Thinley Lhundrub (Ngag dbang phrin las lhun grub).

In Tibet, Bhutan and the world of the Mahâyâna Buddhism in the Himalayas, Thangtong Gyalpo is known and revered by all people. If one questions this, his oeuvre, his whole work and actions will be known far less. This is one reason for the results shown in the present work, which is the result of about 30 years of research projects in Tibet and Bhutan and in particular, fieldwork that was taken up in July 1974 in Bhutan and in April 1981 in Tibet.

Thangtong Gyalpo has developed complex philosophical ideas. However, unlike most other Buddhist masters, he not only noted them down in his writings and passed them on in theories, but has also found his own way for the spreading of the teachings: Thangtong Gyalpo has lived his teachings. He has cooperated with his people as a blacksmith, as well as a philosopher, and shared the results and failures with them, which made it possible for him to personally access people of different classes. Therefore, he is regarded as one of three unusual masters in Tibetan Drubchen Nyönpa (sGrub chen sMyon pa) or ‘divine madman’.

Thangtong Gyalpo’s ideas richly yielded fruit: He inspired his fellow people, spurred them to top performances and with it achieved unexpected multiplicative effects in the spreading of the Buddhist doctrine in Tibet and Bhutan.

For Buddhists, Thangtong Gyalpo’s teachings, his life and works are as a whole, model, help and a clue. For westerners, who are more on ‘logos’ and ‘ratios,’ Thangtong Gyalpo shows methods for their own mental concepts. Far beyond that, he has iron suspension bridges built with a span of more than 100 metres at the beginning of 15th century; while in Europe, spans of more than 20 metres were regarded as significant achievement.

In this contribution, the biography of Thangtong Gyalpo, his teachings, songs, plays (‘cham) and his whole work in brief, is touched slightly in as much as it seemed necessary for the clarification of his personality as an architect and a bridge builder. Instead, the paper attempts to draw the attention to the bridges he built in Tibet and Bhutan and their influence in Europe and America.

Source: Centre for Bhutan Studies.