MATADOR NETWORK
By Paul Sochaczewski
BHUTAN---
Phalluses — sometimes simple and stylized, often ornate and anatomically correct — adorn many houses in
Bhutan. They must do a good job of keeping the home free from evil spirits and slander, as Bhutan is famously pacifist, the people are largely content (this is the home of
Gross National Happiness), and the landlocked kingdom is relatively free of the troublesome domestic dramas that afflict other Asian countries. Called
po in Dzonghka, Bhutan’s national language, these phallus images are sometimes painted on the outside walls of Bhutanese houses, or carved from wood and hung from the eaves of their sturdy stone and timber dwellings. [
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| Phallus symbols depicted on houses in Bhutan |
The man who generally gets credited with popularizing the good-luck-phallus craze was a 15th-16th-century Buddhist master named
Lama Drukpa Kunley. Enfant terrible of Buddhist missionaries, seducer of women (including his own mother, but it was for her own good, he argued), he famously subdued the female demons of Bhutan with his “flaming thunderbolt.” He exemplified the tantric belief that carnal relations can be the gateway to enlightenment, and was not hesitant to enlighten as many women as possible. [
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