THE BHUTAN PROJECT: A VISION OF WELL-BEING INSPIRED BY CHILDREN OF THE MOUNTAINS
by Vision: A+. Architecture: Antonio Eraso Co.
A collaboration to bring life to a community.

"When you are Master of your body, word and mind, You shall rejoice in perfect serenity."

Tibetan Hermit, Shabkar
(1781 — 1851)

The Bhutan Project is, as its very name suggests, a project located in Bhutan, a sovereign nation-state located in the eastern Himalayas, bordered by China in the north and the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam and West Bengal in the east, west and south.

The vision of the Bhutan project is to realise a citadel of well-being through the formation of a repository for healing, knowledge and spirituality. The quote above captures the elusive meaning of well-being: to be master of your body, word and mind, only then can one rejoice in perfect serenity. The Bhutan Project is, broadly speaking, a privately initiated venture backed by a consortium of far-sighted individuals and endorsed by the country's highest authorities, in order to bring life to a community based on a vision of well-being. A vision of well-being finds resonance in a country that is replete with serenity.

BHUTAN AND THE DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY OF GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS
The mental map is indissoluble from the terrain of action. The vision is realisable and is, in fact, at the time of writing, a work-in-progress, precisely because it is in strategic harmony with the natural terrain and ethos of the country.

TERRAIN
At the most obvious level, the idea of creating a citadel of well-being requires a terrain of tranquillity and natural beauty. Why? First because well-being is tied to the sensory experience of being surrounded by nature and tranquillity. Bhutan is a country of tremendous natural beauty, whose lush flora and fauna afford this spatial privilege for the senses. Second, because the idea of well-being is tied to a particular renaissance of healing knowledge that has to do with physical and mental well-being, and Bhutan is one such terrain that literally possesses all the latent ingredients for such a vision to take shape. It is blessed with the natural and distinct advantage of having an intact and extensive biodiversity from semi-tropical to alpine flora and fauna, contributing to a nascent development of Bhutanese herbal pharmacology. A citadel of well-being takes its trajectory from such a natural environment.

HAPPINESS
This word, happiness, is a portmanteau of meanings. Karma Ura, an outstanding Bhutanese scholar and Director of the Centre for Bhutan Studies, says that happiness is 100 percent relational—happiness is not a noun or verb but a conjunction. What does this mean? Perhaps this means happiness stems from attaining a balance between action on oneself and action on the world. Simply put, happiness is achieved not at the expense at whatever cost to society but in situations that have to do with the freedom to pursue simple pleasures like being in harmony with nature, carrying out socio-cultural rituals and bonding in a climate of trust and shared affinities for such pursuits.

The meaning of well-being is often synonymously used with happiness. Based on this assumption, Bhutan is a pioneer in the field of well-being, because it is the first country to initiate and translate the concept of happiness into an actual developmental philosophy guiding its modernisation programme. The vision of well-being is inspired by Bhutan's ethos of happiness.

To read the complete article, get a copy of the 4Q 2009 edition at our online shop or at newsstands/major bookstores; or subscribe to FuturArc.

Table of Contents