 On the southeast of the Asian continent, tucked in the Himalayas, is one of the world's most enigmatic countries, Bhutan. The land with a unique concept called gross national happiness. Here, everyone is quick to smile and laughter. It's a place where wealth is not the guarantee to happiness, where wisdom is developed with compassion, where consciousness continues after death. The place that has in the true sense achieved a collective nirvana. In Bhutan, whatever culture we have, religion plays a very important role because our recorded history of our culture begins with religion. Considered to be one of the Sarma or new schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the Drukpa lineage traces the origin of its transmission to Vajradhara, the manifestation of the supreme essence of Buddhahood. Today, when a Bhutanese Buddhist performs his daily morning prayer, he starts it by tagging all the lineage masters who are passed on the faith to him in his purest and most ascetic manner. And one of the first few, he pays remembrance to Atilopa and Naropa, the two great saints who belong to the neighbouring country of India. It is said that atilopa's true and supreme spirit has taken all the teachings of the four religions. After that, he became a very prominent witness of the Tantric Dharma. Naropa was the disciple of Tilopa who received the complete Mahamudra teachings from Tilopa. The Tibetan master Marpa was appointed by Naropa as his successor in Tibet. Naropa prophesied that his lineage would prosper considerably in the land of snow. Shabdron really unified Bhutan as one kingdom as it is today when he came down here in 1616. Before that, actually Dupakajupa tradition came to Bhutan much earlier, few hundred years earlier. He just reintroduced and expanded Dupakajupa school. It was during Shabdron's time that a friendship of an unusual kind started to develop between the valley of Bhutan and the desert of Ladakh. But the souls of these places couldn't have been more alike. Very much like Bhutan, Ladakh is a land ruled by forces of goodness, a place of peace, non-violence and spirituality, where the ravages of time and history have been held back. The two lands were yet unconnected by road, but spiritually they shared the strongest connection that traced back many ages and the common link binding them was Naropa and an inherent faith in his teachings. Stagnar or the Tiger's Nose Monastery established by Choje Mugzin became the main seat of the southern Drukpa Khaju tradition in Ladakh. Even as Choje Mugzin is the first recorded representative from Bhutan here, the golden period of cross-pollination actually happened when the success of King Neema Namgyal expressed a fresh interest in inviting Bhutanese scholars to Ladakh in 1705. It was only apt that masters from Bhutan brought the Khajupa teachings back to where they originally belonged. It was almost like a reverse dissemination. Bhutanese scholars further helped Ladakh revitalize and rediscover many details from this age-old religious tradition. From here on, the Drukpa Khaju order began to flourish independently in Ladakh, adopting a life and soul of its own. However, Bhutan continued to remain a source of inspiration for those who wished to conserve the exceptional religious heritage. I think there has been exchanges, which was both ways. Of course, Ladakh came and also many Bhutanese went and saw how Buddhism was practiced there and how the Ladakh culture was evolving and developing and getting preserved. It is this cultural treasure shared by the two regions that seems to contain all the wisdom of the human race. It is not for no reason that Ladakh is one of the few lands that assures personal liberation and Bhutan, one of the only lands that holds the promise of an earthly paradise.