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| Bumthang |
One evening, seven of my former fifth graders surprised me
at the nunnery with their overnight bags and pillows. As their ride drove off in the distance, they explained,
“Miss, we got a two day holiday from school so we came to stay with you.” Shocked at the unexpected visit, all I
could do was giggle, “I’m so happy to see you all!”
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| Burning Lake |
The next morning, I decided to walk them to Membartsho since
most of them had never been to it and they were beyond thrilled. Membartsho, or Burning Lake, is one of
the most important sacred sites in Bhutan; a famous treasure finder, Pema
Lingpa, dove into its ferocious icy waters with a burning lamp and returned
from the water with the lamp still burning along with sacred treasures, hence
the name, Burning Lake. The
treasure was hidden by the second Buddha who prophesized that a great master
would find his hidden treasure.
A second well known story about Membartsho and worth
mentioning is of a farmer who went looking for his cow near the lake when he
heard beautiful chants coming from a magnificent temple standing where the lake
was supposed to be. He entered the
temple for some time enjoying the sereneness of heavenly monks praying and then
realizing that he had been there for several hours, he finally went home to
tell his family about the new temple.
However, when he reached home, he discovered that he had been missing
for twenty-one days and that his funeral had already taken place by his family who
thought that he must had drowned in the water since they found his hat next to the water. Everyone was in shock to see him alive and when he went back
to visit the temple, it was gone.
Other strange occurrences have happened at the lake, such as
tales of people who saw a hideous naked women lying in the lake without a trace
of water in it. Hours later when
they returned to the lake, it was back to normal and the frightening lady was
nowhere to be found. Unfortunately,
those who looked into her black socket eyes mysteriously died a few days later. Whether all these stories are true or
not, most Bhutanese people believe them and make long pilgrimages to pay great
respect to the sacred spot.
So on a mundane Sunday morning, like the people in the
tales, we too innocently sought out to visit the magical site, not realizing
that we would also add to the mythical stories of the Burning Lake. When we reached the lake, we stood on a
boulder looking down at the rushing river that collected in a small swirling deep
pool (referred to as the lake), which pushed on to continue as a river for
miles and miles.
While we looked around at the spectacular scenery, a lama who
was in meditation came out of hermit to point out to us areas in the water
where some pure people can see images of temples, prayer flags and other revered
Buddhist items. Just then one of
my students faces turned white and she hid behind another student while some of
the other girls followed her in extreme fear shouting, “There’s a mermaid in
the water!”
At first, the girls were incredibly frightened and a few
were on the verge of crying. The
lama dismissed their fears telling them that it was wonderful to be able to see
a mermaid. They screamed at me,
“Miss, look, can’t you see her tail swishing around… I can see her hands…” I
strained my eyes, but I couldn’t see “the little mermaid.” All I could see was the refraction of
the sunrays on the surface of the water that could possibly have a shape of a
mermaid if one extended their imagination. I thought that maybe they were mistaking the refracting light
as a mermaid or maybe it was a big fish they were seeing, but they all swore
they could see her body perfectly clear while some reported seeing the mermaid’s
face and long black hair. 
The students were in a trance fixated on the mermaid and they
made offerings to her by throwing money into the water while the lama threw her
a handful of packaged candy. I
gasped as I saw the plastic wrappers floating into the sacred water and seeing
my disapproving frown, he unwrapped the rest of the candy and threw in the remaining
sweets without the wrappers.
The students drew a crowd of tourist who must have thought
we were a crazy sight and they flashed their cameras at the girls prostrating
to an “invisible” mermaid. Nobody
seemed to be able to see the mermaid except the seven little girls. By the look of fear, excitement and
disbelief all mixed upon their faces, I truly believed that they were seeing a
mermaid. The lama explained that
the innocent children must have had the right Karma to see it unlike some
adults who have a lack of faith or accumulated sins.
It took me a long time to nudge the girls away from Membartsho. The entire day, all the girls could
talk about was the mermaid and that night several had intriguing dreams about
her. They became obsessed with the
mermaid and they asked every spiritual person we came into contact with about
her. Some told the girls it was a
good omen while others shook in fear saying that it was the local deity who protected
the rest of the hidden treasures in the lake. Some cautioned the girls to be careful because the deity had
the power to take the souls of people, especially if did anything bad around the
lake, such as smoking.
Then a few weeks later, I thought the story of the mermaid
was over, but the mermaid talk resurfaced when a young foreign couple on their
honeymoon fell into the dangerous lake and drowned without a single witness. Everyone was horrified by the news and
after a search team couldn’t find one of the bodies for three days, the nunnery
held a special puja at the lake for the body to be discovered. Minutes after the puja, the body was
recovered. Afterwards, a few of my
Bhutanese friends told me that they believed the mermaid caused the couple to
perish and that she kept the body until they did the puja for her to release it
from the water similar to how she had done in the past.
The next day, when some of the nuns and I went to Membartsho
to say a prayer for the deceased couple, I overheard the meditating lama
residing at the lake telling some tourists and their guides about how seven
little girls saw the mermaid; I realized that the day my students saw the mermaid
had turned into a new tale in Bhutan as the tourists squinted looking for a
mermaid. I felt chills run down my
spine wondering if there was really a powerful mermaid lurking somewhere deep
in the pool or under a bolder. I
can’t say with any certainty that the mermaid is real or not, but that mundane
day we sought out to visit Membartsho has left me with a deep respect for the sites
potential for death and magical occurrences. 
