Once upon a time, Lopon Rinpoche embarked on a journey from Tibet towards the high reaches of what is now known as the western part of Arunachal Pradesh in India. He was on a journey to spread Buddhism in this region.
Lopon Rinpoche reached Dirang valley situated in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. People of the Monpa community were the dwellers of this region and followers of the ‘Bon’ religion. Also known as ‘Bonpuism’, this religion is one of the oldest faith of Tibet and the followers were closely associated with their natural surroundings. The communities believed in the spirit of the mountains, air, streams and the soil for a prosperous life and their well-being. However, animal sacrifice was believed to be an integral part of their religious and spiritual life.
The seven sub-castes of the Monpas living in Dirang basti worshipped two scared mountains named after their deities ‘Bangle’ and ‘Dunphu’. Special prayers were offered twice a year by their priest who was known as the ‘Bonpo’.
During his travel to Dirang, Lopon Rinpoche came across the ritual of animal sacrifice followed while offering prayers to the two sacred mountains. He was startled to witness the prevalence of such a ritual in the region.
“This is a sin”, Lopon Rinpoche told the head priest of the Bonpos. He tried to persuade and asked him to stop the sacramental of animal sacrifice.
The Bonpus refused. They had been following their tradition since ages and did not want to change their age-old custom. The head priest of the Bonpos was a powerful and highly respected person in the region who did not want to abide by Lopon Rinpoche’s advice. After long numerous discussions and debates the head priest challenged Lopon Rinpoche.
“Let’s compete to reach the Lopon mountain first”, announced the head priest.
During his travel to Dirang, Lopon Rinpoche came across the ritual of animal sacrifice followed while offering prayers to the two sacred mountains. He was startled to witness the prevalence of such a ritual in the region.
They agreed that the one who would reach the Lopon mountain first will be the winner; and the winner’s law would prevail. The locals believe that to reach Lopon is next to impossible for a common human being because of its sheer geography and terrain.
The day of the challenge dawned.
The head priest began his journey sitting on ‘dau’ – a drum-like traditional musical instrument played in the region. As he started the journey he beat the instrument loudly. The strong sound waves of the instrument were powerful enough to take him to Dzangto Peri mountain with a lightning speed. Lopon Rinpoche on the other hand, sat on the rays of the sun to reach the mountain. But soon he realised that the head priest was way ahead in his journey. Rinpoche then used his spiritual powers, chanted a prayer and hurled his cap towards the mountain. While the head priest reached and sat inside a cave in the mountain; the cap also got placed on the mountain peak.
“You are late. I win”, said the head priest as Lopon Rinpoche walked in.
“You are mistaken. I went out to get my cap which was on the mountain peak”, said Lopon Rinpoche. “I was the first one to reach”.
The head priest could not believe his defeat. But as promise he accepted Lopon Rinpoche’s advice and thereafter decided not to undertake any kind of animal sacrifice during the worshipping of the sacred mountains of ‘Bangle’ and ‘Dunphu’.
The promise has been kept even today. The prayers are offered twice a year in the Narang Thung area of Dirang basti by all the seven groups of the Monpa community. But no animal is scarified. Prayers are offered for two nights during the summer month and for a night during winter. The community in the Dirang basti strongly believes that misfortune will dawn if anyone break the promise. All forms of animal sacrifice are banned in the area and the forest resources from these two sacred mountains are also not used by any individual or group.
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The above anecdote has been written with inputs from some locals of the Dirang basti with special inputs from Sang Leto.