[Buddha-l] New Postage stamps with Hindu Gods!

[Chris Fynn]

JKirkpatrick wrote:

...
> So, Chris---Hmmm, interesting. So why does the Bhutani govt issue
> stamps with Gelugpa images if it's not all that related to
> Bhutan?  

Possibly because they don't like the idea of people licking the back of
their own sacred images? The stamps are I think printed in Japan and
maybe someone there who doesn't know the difference also chooses the
images. Bhutan sells many more stamps to collectors than the number they
sell for people to actually use to post letters. This philatelic
business was suggested as a way for the Government to make money by an
American who visited Bhutan in the 1960's.

And while we're at it, would you kindly tell us what the
> prevailing sect is in Bhutan, or the official sect,
> or............?


Since the early 17th Century the established sect has been the southern
branch of the Drukpa Kagyu school which occupies more or less the same
sort of position that the Gelukpa school once had in Tibet. There are at
least as many followers of various lineages of the Nyingma School -
particularly in E. Bhutan where the overwhelming majority of the 
population are Nyingma. However, unlike the Drukpa Kagyu, the Nyingma 
have no central organisation and their monks, temples and shedra are not 
supported by the government. There are also a handful of private temples 
loosely affiliated with other traditions (Karma Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu, 
Sakya).

- C