SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

Effective Public Communication [COM 30103]

Assignment: Oral Presentation (Part 1)

Name: Foo Ji Sun

Student ID: 0323550

Module: Effective Public Communication [COM 30103]

Lecturer: Persis Rodrigues

Session: September 2015

Submission Date: 19th January, 2016 (Tuesday)

Presentation Date: 19th January, 2016 (Tuesday)

Today, im going to talk about the Tiger’s Nest in The Kingdom of Bhutan, also known as Paro Taktsang (spa ro stag tshang). The monastery is located 10km north of Paro (spa ro) and is a major highlight of visiting Bhutan. The monastery hangs on a cliff at over 3km above sea level and 900m above the Paro valley. The rock slopes are almost vertical and the monastery buildings are built right into the rocks.

Taktsang is said to be the holiest site in Bhutan. It is believed that Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambahva) flew to this location from Tibet on the back of a tigress. Finding shelter in a series of caves, he meditated for some three years and then set about converting the Bhutanese to Buddhism. The legend is further embellished when the temple was built 9 centuries later, in 1692.

From the 11th century, many Tibetan saints came to Taktsang to medidate, including Jetsun Milarepa (rje btsun mi la ras pa) one of Tibet’s most famous poets, Dampa Sangye (dam pa sangs rgyas) a Buddhist adept from India, Machig Labdron (ma gcig lab sgron) a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, and Thangton Gyalpo (thang stong rgyal po) also known as the Iron Chain Maker.

The monastery buildings consist of four main temples and residential shelters. The buildings are ideally designed by adapting to the granite ledges, the caves and the rocky terrain. I do not have any more images of the monastery at this point since photography is strictly prohibited in the temple, so let’s just use our imaginations. All the buildings are interconnected through steps and stairways. There are also wooden bridges along the paths to cross over. The temple in the highest level houses a wall sculpture, or frieze, of Buddha.

As for the ornamentation, thousands of prayer flags can be seen around the monastery. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside. There are also many colorful Buddhist paintings depicting Buddhist legends on every wall. Prayer wheels can also be seen along the way to the monastery. Prayer wheels are used to accumulate wisdom and good karma and to purify bad karma.

The monastery is based on Bhutanese architecture. The main materials used for religious buildings are stones, rocks and compressed earth. They are also adorned with a red stripe along the upper calls, and gilded copper roofs.

On the 19th of April, 1998, a fire broke out in the main building of the monastery complex, which destroyed many valuable paintings, artifacts and statues. Restoration works were undertaken at an estimated cost of 135 million Bhutanese Ngultrum, which is around 8.7 million Malaysian Ringgit.