Today’s Lynchian episode of the #atozchallenge and the third entry in my B-Z of Twin Peaks is one of the most bizarre, but despite that it’s something that has a solid basis in fact.
A Dugpa, (or Drukpa) from what I understand after a very interesting hour of research, is a 12th century Tibetan guru, scholar or spiritual leader which you might think unlikely for inclusion in a tv show set in Washington State, even given Agent Cooper’s obvious fascination with Tibet.
But in the context of Twin Peaks, the role of the Dugpa is a lot harder to pin down.
They appear to be “magicians” who have forfeited their humanity in order to learn the secrets of the mysterious, possibly supernatural, inter-dimensional White and Black Lodges, from which both good and evil spirits may cross into our reality, sometimes whilst inhabiting mortal bodies.
It’s unclear who the Dugpas might be, or if they are even portrayed as conventional characters, (in so much as any Lynch creations can be considered “conventional”) but Windom Earle is convinced that they could be the key to the all-powerful Black Lodge.
One possible Dugpa sighting is during one of the many strange visions experienced by various characters (although my own personal guru and font of all things Twin Peaks, Christian Hartleben, thinks it unlikely they have any direct influence over events) and it appears like this:
#atozchallenge: D is for Dugpa
It’s Monday, which must mean that it’s time for cosmic photography.
