PARO, Bhutan -- At 3,100 meters above sea level, Dochula Pass is a brief stopover between the Bhutanese capital Thimphu and the subtropical valley of Punakha. Along the journey, red rhododendrons appear from cypress-clad slopes, and Buddhist prayer flags flutter in the air. On a hillock, 108 chortens (small stupas) stand in memory of Bhutanese soldiers killed in 2003 fighting insurgents from the neighboring Indian state of Assam, who used camps in Bhutan's forests as bases for separatist operations in India.
"Most Bhutanese are Buddhists, and we consider 108 a sacred number," says my guide, Wangchuk, who like many Bhutanese has only one name. Wangchuk reminds me of the previous evening, when I lit 108 butter lamps at the gilded Buddha Dordenma Statue, outside Thimphu, which houses 100,000 smaller Buddha statues. Bhutanese believe that lighting butter lamps dispel darkness and ignorance, the root of all suffering.
