Haa District: Mystical history of Haa
The name Haa (pronounced "hah"), as well as the more ancient name Has (Dzongkha: ཧས་; Wylie: Has; pronounced "hay"), connotes esoteric hiddenness. Haa's major feature is the Haa Valley, a steep north–south valley with a narrow floor. The district is presided over by three mountains collectively referred as "Three Brothers" -- Jampelyang, Chana-Dorji, and Chenrezig.
Local historians maintain that two important temples in Haa District, the Black Temple (lhakhang Nagpo) and the White Temple (lhakhang karpo), were built at the same time as Kyerchu Temple in Paro in the 7th century AD. The two temples can be found near each other at the sacred site known as Miri Punsum, or "The Three Brother Hills". A third temple, Haa Gonpa, was built further up the valley at the site where, according to legend, a bodhisattva, disguised as a lame pigeon, was found by a local farmer who was drawn to the spot by a mysterious fire seen on several successive nights and by the unexplained sounds of oboes and trumpets (musical instruments closely associated with Bhutanese and Tibetan monasteries).
During the 10th day of the 11th month of the Bhutanese calendar (see Tibetan calendar), liturgical ceremonies worshipping Amitabha Buddha are held at Haa Gonpa temple.
According to legend, near the Black Temple there are two houses close to a sacred oak tree where the local deity once appeared as a winged creature, scaring the local people (the valley is divided into a number of areas, each under the influence of a particular local deity predating the arrival of Buddhism — see Bön religion). The residents of the two houses gave offerings to the local deity. The local deity, now appeased, visited the upper house while neglecting the lower. The jealous owner of the lower house began a feud in which a man of the upper house was killed. Every year 11th lunar month a series of special mystical practices are performed in the upper house for a week.
The famous Lam Pema Lingpa also documented what was supposedly the activities of another local deity known as Aup Chungdue. Chungdue was said to be responsible for meteor storms, cyclones, wildfires, rocks splitting apart, earthquakes, and a number of other disasters. The Guru Padmasambhava arrived in the late 8th century and subdued the deity.
In the 15th century aup Chungdue decreed that the people of Ha Shogona village where not to come in contact with any followers of a certain monk in nearby Paro dzongkhag. According to the story, a young Haa man married a girl from Paro, and, unsuspecting, as they crossed a river between the two districts, the knots tying her infant to her back came loose and the baby fell into the river and drowned.
Neat the Black and White temples is a special stupa chorten marking the site where an imprint of Guru Padmasambhava's body and hat may be found in a large rock.In the Samar side-valley may be found a bridge known as Has Samarpudung. Below the bridge is the lake of a wishing cow whose stone udders can be seen in the lake.