I find it quite illuminating to speak with people from all over the world. The power of our technology and interconnected world is that it allows me to have conversations I could never have.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Jamyang in this week’s podcast.

Jamyang Loden

Jamyang Loden is a monk from Bhutan, the “country of gross national happiness,” (you’ll hear more about this later) currently residing at Ludakaru monastery in Bumang, central Bhutan. He has been living a monastic life since he was seven years old and is studying Buddhist philosophies.

Even monks have YouTube channels

Jamyang created a youtube channel (see link) to showcase Bhutan to the outside world from their own perspective.

Daily Life of a Monk

Jamyang Loden details his daily routine as a monk, starting at 4:30 a.m. If you’ve ever wondered what that actually looks like, you’ll find out in detail.

English Proficiency

English is a second language in Bhutan, and younger generations born after 2000 are particularly fluent. That makes it rather easy for me to have a chat like this and I am always appreciative that English is still the lingua franca.

Bhutan’s Geographical Location and Unique Qualities

Bhutan’s location is situated between China to the north and India to the south.

There are some unique facts about Bhutan, including its history of never being conquered and its status as a carbon-negative country. The country’s constitution mandates maintaining at least 60% forest coverage, contributing to its green landscape and small population of just over 700,000.

Bhutan’s Approach to Infrastructure and Nature

Bhutan is nearly 100% powered by hydropower. To me, Bhutanese architecture is harmonizing with nature, with buildings appearing integrated into the landscape and resembling sculptures. The drawings of the new international airport in Gelephu, which incorporates natural elements like trees indoors and features a modular design.

Gelephu Mindfulness City

Gelephu Mindfulness City is a unique, large-scale project initiated by the king, designed to promote mindful living amidst nature. Uunlike cities with skyscrapers, Gelephu will integrate natural elements, allowing wildlife like elephants to roam within the city, providing tourists with a tranquil and immersive experience. It is an amazing project that you might hear more about on this channel…

Meditation Practices

I asked Jamyang for advice on meditation for those who find it difficult to stop thinking—not that this is ever an issue for me. :). Hear what he said. It might surprise you.

Check out his channel, FB and instagram, and tell him Alchemy for Life sent you!

Jamyang’s contact info:

https://www.youtube.com/@jamyangloden4935

facebook.com/share/14r3F1ipSD

https://www.instagram.com/monk_key_diary

Transcript:

Mark Bradford: Well hey there, welcome back. I’m here with Jamyang Loden. So, as I ask everyone, uh, tell everyone who you are and what you do.

Jamyang Loden: Okay, first of all, thank you Mark for giving me this opportunity to share about my country to your audiences uh especially Americans if I’m not mistaken.

Jamyang Loden: So um once again thank you very much. My name is Jamyong Loden and I am from Bhutan the country of cross national happiness. So uh currently I am a monk at Ludakaru monastery in Bumang that is uh central part of Bhutan. So uh yeah I’m learning Buddhist philosophies and it has been uh 7 years since I took monastic life and yeah that is a brief introduction of me

Mark Bradford: Well, that’s very good. I’m so, as I said before, I’m so happy to be able to speak with you. I love that the technology allows us to communicate in this way and and see each other. And speaking of that, uh you have definitely embraced technology because you have your own YouTube channel.

Jamyang Loden: Yes. Yes. A very small growing YouTube channel I should say. Um the shall I continue?

Mark Bradford: Oh, sure. I was just going to ask you uh if you would mind telling people about your channel. What is the uh purpose or mission of your channel?

Jamyang Loden: Okay. Thank you very much for this question. One second. Um uh the main reason or purpose that I created this YouTube channel is because uh I wanted to show my country to you know outside Bhutan because there are so many vloggers or YouTubers who are talking about our country within Bhutan and there are so many YouTubers outside Bhutan you know great YouTubers who comes to our country and show Bhutan to outside world. Then I thought you know why not I show my country to outside. It is it would be better that if I represent my country on my way own way and show to other you know other people that would be very uh you know meaningful. That is one reason and the another reason is uh as a monk you know uh we have so many less people coming out and speaking and sharing about their life and uh if I share about my spiritual journey then it would uh make others other people to learn what is spirituality that would give you know some insights of of uh what what is the life of a monk you you know as a monk.

Jamyang Loden: So that is one reason that is another reason why I created this YouTube channel and uh there are other factors uh which I am not able to remember now but then uh these are the two reasons you know main reasons why I created this YouTube and yeah and I think uh I would say I’m blessed to have you know uh that I got attention from outsiders as as I you know there’s one uh there’s a saying you when you want something everything conspires in helping achieve that. That is uh what I felt you know uh exactly as I wanted. Uh I got opportunity to talk about my country in one of the biggest YouTube channels you know uh about construction. They gave me platform and that has really helped me to pull the subscribers from you know western countries subscribe to my channel and now I think uh it is working well.

Mark Bradford: Oh,

Jamyang Loden: Yeah.

Mark Bradford: absolutely. And so I will let you know too that when this is published, I will make sure that there is a link, a very clear link to people being able to see your YouTube channel and being able

Jamyang Loden: Okay.

Mark Bradford: to find you and and so forth because I know people out there really want to learn. You know,

Jamyang Loden: Mhm.

Mark Bradford: YouTube is a wonderful way to to learn. It’s overwhelming. There’s so much that’s there. And

Jamyang Loden: Yeah. Yeah.

Mark Bradford: uh and people who listen to this podcast also want to learn. They want to know new things, maybe things that would be difficult to find otherwise. And the greatest thing about it is being able to hear directly from the person who’s experiencing it. You know, we can read about it all we want, but to be able to have the luxury of speaking to you directly is really, really cool. And you were mentioning uh being in the monastery and being a monk. I’m sure everyone would be very fascinated to hear sort of your description of that because I think everyone has a concept in their mind of what it is and I’m sure it varies depending on where you are in the world and so forth.

Mark Bradford: Would you mind sharing a little bit about what it is to be a monk and what your day-to-day activity looks like?

Jamyang Loden: Okay. Um, I’ll just uh begin with uh uh how I begin my day. So, uh my early bell rings at uh 4:30 a.m. standard time that is uh plus 6 GMT. So um my you know when there’s a ring uh in early hours 4:30 a.m. then all the monks will have to get up and get ready by 4:45. They’ll be they’ll have to sit in their room. So and you know they’ll have to uh read some som...

Mindfulness from Bhutan – my chat with a monk named Jamyang.