This lecture focuses on Bhutan, the smallest South Asian nation. The country has a less than million population and was founded in the 17th century by a Buddhist lama, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1592-1651), who sought to unite monastic and lay element in his governance. The resulting focus on the wellbeing of not just human, but all sentient beings as the objective of the government’s care, has resulted in popular policy formulation, such as the current development vision in the country, Gross National Happiness. The talk takes as a starting point Bhutan’s 2008 constitution, which formalised and institutionalised separation between the country’s secular state and monastics. However, the COVID-19 pandemic saw a period when the state institutions and practices were operationalised in new ways. The clergy emerged as a significant actor in the country’s “all-of-society” response. The lecture analyses how leading spiritual leaders act as important societal organisers, mobilising citizen participation in national responses and initiatives. By examining the disruption and continuity in the relationship between the state and monastics, the lecture problematises dominant approaches to secularism studies and their use of Eurocentric and deterministic conception of state-religion relation and governance model.
Bio
Dr. Dendup Chophel is a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Cross Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. He completed his PhD from The Australian National University and has previously worked at the Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies in Thimphu. His research explores social change in Bhutan with a particular focus on Buddhist and community organisations and rituals.