TSIP NAMGAYSEY — story of a clairsentient

In Bhutan, popularly in the villages, a larger segment of the storytelling culture is dominated by ghost stories. And amongst the horror stories, incidents of human encounters with ghosts, spirits or demons in certain places are spine-chilling to hear. While ordinary people, unless damned, do not see demons is a general belief; paranormal sightings were frequent as normal amongst the rare individuals who possess clairsentient abilities. In the western regions of Bhutan, they are known as Dreytok-Khenpa (འདྲེ་རྟོགས་མཁྱེན་པ). Usually, these extrasensory feelings of intangible energies are only associated with high lamas, astrologers and some shamans. 

One such story comes from Khameyna in Gase-tshogom, Wangdue. Long ago, at evenfall, a locally known astrologer, Namgaysey, was heading towards Khameyna where he had to pass a small ridge called Thewagang. To his surprise, he sighted a shabbily dressed woman performing dhoenchoe (offering to evils) facing Khameyna. Unflinchingly, he sidled towards her from behind. She was totally unaware of his presence. As he drew closer, he sensed that the woman was not human but the apparition of Thewagang. Astonishingly, he also overheard every single word she uttered during the doenchoe. From what she recited, a plea "Ap Namgaysey dha chey machu" or "never to encounter Ap Namgaysey" was repeated over and over again. 

At that moment, he knew for sure, he was the demon's worst feared evil like she was to the ordinary humans passing by her territory. Folks interpret that it was probably due to his sharp divinatory skills and rituals he could conduct to keep humans from harm's way. 

"Ahem," loudly broke his silence, nabbed her by her hair and lashed her with his handheld staff and rosary beads until she promised never to harm the passerby. 

According to some old folks in Khameyna, Tsip Namgay also seized the demon's belongings like bangchug, palang, zari and pot used during the offering. Those elders also claim that they saw the utensils in his ancestral home when they were young. I tried to look for the antics but could not track them yet. However, the folks who once saw those materials gave me some descriptions. They said, size, design and patterns on the ceased properties looked a way different from what human beings had used then.

Upon hearing the story, I consulted a learned Lam on how much truth would such a story hold, spiritually. He verified and said, "ལྷ་འདྲེ་མི་གསུམ་སྤྱོད་ལམ་གཅིག" which translates to "gods and demons share same demeanor as humans". He said, even though humans curse demons, spirits, ghosts and so forth, they do fear us as much as we fear them. Lam with sympathy said, "worse than us, these beings are trapped in this samsaric prison for eons due to their own grave sins and transgressions". So, Lam's parting advice was, recite supplications like Om Ma Ni Pedme Hung, Baza Guru, Droelma, etc especially when we travel after dusk.

Oral sources: Ap Kuenley et al.