IMAGES
Aama Bombo
(Tamang shaman who is Larry's current teacher)
Nyima Lama
(Tibetan shaman)
Gajendra Lama
(Tamang shaman and Larry's first guru/initiation master)
Pau Wang Chuk
(Tibetan shaman)
Larry
Peters
(Tibetan shaman)
Pasupatinath
(Home of Shiva and the burning ghats)
Boudhanath
(The all-seeing Buddha eyes of the giant stupa at Boudhanath)
Kumbeswar
(Initiation and pilgrimage at Kumbeswar)
Nyima
(Tibetan shaman “Pau” in Pokhara)
Ram
(Tamang shaman in Kathmandu)
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Photo
by Rose Khalsa |
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ARTICLE
Pau
Wang Chuk: FSS' first 'Living Treasure"
Pau Wang Chuk has been the subject of several articles by Larry
Peters who has been visiting the old shaman regularly since 1996.
As a Living Treasure of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Wang
Chuk receives $250 annually to help preserve his shamanic practice.
Wang Chuk is now a very old man but he was only a teenager when
he was initiated as a shaman in Tibet. In the 1950's the Chinese
invaded Tibet and Wang Chuk fled along with many other Tibetans
and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Tibetan Shamanism (so-called Bön) is an ancient spiritual practice
antedating Buddhism by thousands of years which has been largely
absorbed into Tibetan Buddhist practice. Bön shamanism survives
in many of the Buddhist rituals, initiations, meditations, and deities
who continue to function and play dominant religious roles, albeit
infused with later Buddhist philosophy.
Wang Chuk is Buddhist but not a lama. However, some of his teachers
and initiation masters are Tibetan Buddhist lamas. Even major ritual
objects, like his rainbow crown, were presented to him by rinpoches
(incarnate lamas). One of his costumes, now old and tattered, was
presented to him by the Dalai Lama himself.
Wang Chuk resides near Pokhara Nepal, in the Tibetan refugee camp
called Tashi Palkhiel. He is one of three practicing shamans in
the camp, and the eldest. He is not as active as he once was because
of his advanced age and poor health, primarily treating only those
to have traveled to him from a far distance (he doesn't like to
say no). Most of the healing work for the community is conducted
by the other two shamans, both of whom are on friendly and cooperative
terms with Wang Chuk. The intense and complicated healing rituals
tax Wang Chuk's strength now, and he is typically weakened so much
afterwards that it takes a number of days for him to recover.
Back in 1996, Wang Chuk was working almost every day, as well as
long into the night. His rituals are dramatic and involve embodiment
by Thang Lha, the deity of shamans, who comes down from the clouds
on his white horse. It is Thang Lha who does the healing after the
soul of the shaman has been transferred to a brass mirror (melung)
that sits on Wang Chuk's multi-tiered altar.
Once embodied, Wang Chuk's countenance changes. He jumps from his
seat and dances for a few short minutes. The trance is brought on
by percussion from a small handdrum (damaru) held in his right hand
and bell (shang) in his left. The drum is like the deity's horse
and Wang Chuk's body shakes, the drum changing speed, rhythm, and
tone indicative of the varying gaits of Thang Lha's heavenly steed.
Wang Chuk is primarily an extraction-type healer. Using a black
sheep's horn, he will suck out objects of affliction or "intrusions"
that cause a patient's illness. Intrusions may be hair, bile, meat,
stones, coins, worms, and more -- all of which is shown to the patient.
The extraction done by the deity is usually gentle.
One of Wang Chuk's most famous healings was the extraction of a
coin from a young lama's throat which enabled the boy to breath.
Relatives and friends volunteered the information that, some time
earlier, the young monk had indeed swallowed a coin and had not
passed it.
On another occasion, Wang Chuk extracted a blood clot from the head
of a cancer patient who had traveled from New York to see him. She
had undergone surgery and extensive radiation and chemotherapy and
been given a questionable prognosis since the remainder of her tumor
was inoperable and she was in a very weakened condition. She was
gaunt and her hair had turned white. Wang Chuk gave her the blood
clot and told her it was the last remaining residue of her disease.
After the healing, she gained weight, regrew her hair, got a suntan
and looked visibly improved. When she returned home two weeks later,
she visited her oncologist and her doctors were astonished that
they could find no trace of her tumor. She is still healthy a year
later.
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