THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Steven Lee Myers
LOBESA, Bhutan — For centuries, Bhutan has celebrated the phallus. They are painted on homes, or carved in wood, installed above doorways and under eaves to ward off evil, including one of its most insidious human forms, gossip. They are used by masked jesters in religious festivals and at one temple near here in Lobesa as a blessing of fertility. The tradition has been widely traced to one lama, Drukpa Kunley, who spread the tenets of Buddhism through Bhutan in the 15th and 16th centuries. Called the “Divine Madman,” he was a holy fool, a mendicant, drunkard and Lothario who subdued women and demons alike with his heightened spirituality and what legend called his “Flaming Thunderbolt of Wisdom.” [
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| Phallus symbols are worn as necklaces, used as scarecrows and donned by masked jesters in religious festivals. Credit Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times |
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| A family inside the courtyard of a traditional Bhutanese house decorated with elaborate paintings of mythical animals and a phallus. Credit Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times |
