The village of Ura, called Ura Makrong, is on the right side of the main road as one travels to Eastern Bhutan. Situated at an elevation of 3,100 m (10,170 ft), the village is made up of large stone houses squeezed up against each other.

Built in 1986 on the site of an old temple which was in bad condition. The two-storey high temple is constructed in traditional Bhutanese style and is dedicated to Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava). It houses three sanctuaries.

The courtyard is paved with flat stones and used for village gatherings as well as for the Yakchoe festival and dances. In 2007 the courtyard is extended and repaved by the villagers themselves.

Architectural style / School and Related artworks

Bhutanese school of painting, architecture and clay sculpture. Stones, clay, natural paintings are the material used

The temple contains remarkable paintings done by local painters in the two main sanctuaries. They illustrate the great religious cycles of the Nyingmapa school of Tantric Buddhism and the main statue is a two-storey high clay representation of Guru Rinpoche.

Social cultural function

Symbol of the religious tradition and commitment of the community.

Provider of blessings and protection for the community.

Used essentially by the villagers for their religious practices either individually or in groups.

Used as a religious training centre for the male religious practitioners of the village.

It is an imposing monastery with several buildings located on a slope above the Chamkhar river bridge on the left side of the river. There is a motorable road going until the monastery from the Swiss farm. A large terrace provides wonderful view of the Chhoekhor valley and the Jakar dzong. The buildings are composed of the Guru lhakhang, Tshokhang (Prayer hall) capable of housing about 500 monks, residences for high lamas and teachers, classrooms, Library, Monastery offices, Monks’ hostels, Kitchen, store and dining room, a Guest house Mipham guest-house,  and a hermitag. ref. http://tshokeydorji.org

History

It bears the name of a great monastery in Lhodrak (Southern Tibet), practically on the border with Bhutan and whose reincarnated lama took refuge in Bhutan and died there.

This lineage is that of Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche, whose origin goes back to a disciple of Guru Rinpoche. The present reincarnation, who comes from Eastern Bhutan, is very respected. Many children have joined this monastery, whose monks now number more than 400.

The first Namkhai Nyingpo was one of the close five heart sons and one of the twenty five principal disciples of Guru Padmasambhava. He was an accomplished master and was among the first seven to receive the ordination of monks in the eighth century. He was also the root Lama of the great Buddhist King Trisong Detsen. Subsequently, there were many successive reincarnations of Namkhai Nyingpo such as Treasure Revealers Jangchub Lingpa Palgi Gyaltsen and Dawa Gyaltsen. Most of his incarnates were born in the province of Lhodrak in the south of Tibet, where there are many holy places and caves connected with Guru Rinpochhe and other great Masters.

Namkhai Rinpoche took rebirth in 1670 in Lhodrak in Southern Tibet as Rigzin Lobzang Lhachog. At the age of eight, the Fifth Dalai Lama officially recognised Rigzin Lobzang Lhachog as the reincarnate of Namkhai Nyinpo and installed him as the abbot of Lhodrak Kharchu monastery. Since then, Lhodrak Kharchu Dudjomling has been the seat of the Namkhai Nyinpo reincarnates. However, in 1959 the sixth Namkhai Nyingpo was forced to flee south towards Bhutan where he spent the remainder of his life.

The Seventh Namkhai Nyingpo was born in 1966 near Tongshang Thrichu Gonpa (Tashi Yangtse district) in Eastern Bhutan to Tshering Gyaltsen and Sherabmo. The child was recognised as the Seventh Namkhai Nyingpo by the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, who had clearly predicted the rebirth describing the names of the parents and other such details. Consequently, in 1972, at the age of six, he ascended to his predecessor’s throne at the Pema Shedrup Chholing or the second Kharchu Monastery in Bumthang. At the age of eight, he received the Refuge Ordination and on two occasions the Long Life Empowerment from the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. In the same year, he received the Kalachakra Empowerment, teachings on the Bodhicharyavatra and many other major teachings from the Dalai Lama. Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche continued his intensive study of Buddhist philosophy with many masters and in the spirit of non-sectarianism has received teachings and transmissions from the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He has also transmitted his own special nyingma lineage called Jang Ter (Northern Treasure) teachings to other Lamas and Rinpoches including the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.  Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche has mainly concentrated on the care and training of the monks and nuns at his monasteries in Bhutan and on his own study and practice. He has given numerous teachings, empowerments and oral transmissions in Bhutan and abroad.

The monastery was small until the 1990s and the present construction was made possible with support extended by His Majesty the 4th King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and the Royal Grandmother Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck in particular and from other Buddhist supporters, Bhutanese and foreigners.

Architectural style / school and related art works

Its style is closer to that of a Tibetan monastery with its huge halls and the seats of the masters near the altar. Each hall is surrounded by the monks’ hostels. The paintings in the older Guru lhakhang are magnificent and are the work of the Tibetan monk in residence, Lopen Trashi Wangdi and his students. They describe episodes in the life of Guru Rinpoche according to his biography the Kathang Sertreng. The main statue is Guru Nansi Zilnon, a protective aspect of Guru Rinpoche subduing the three worlds.

The larger assembly hall (tshokhang) built in 2000 contains statues of Guru Rinpoche in different forms, the Buddha, and the great Tibetan treasure discoverer, Rigzin Goedem (1337–1409), to whose lineage this monastery’s teachings are linked. The paintings, finished in 2004, are very beautiful and are also the work of Lopen Trashi Wangdi and his students. They depict the most esoteric aspects of Tantric deities as well as lineages of transmission. On the western wall, there is a painting of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682), who was very close to the Nyingmapa teachings and in particular to the tradition of the Jang Ter of Rigzin Goedem.  The Fifth Dalai Lama also recognized the first incarnation of Namkhai Nyingpo.

Since 2001, the monastery possesses a large religious banner (Thongdroel), which is displayed on certain occasions.

Social cultural function

The construction of the monastery has been made possible with valuable support extended by His Majesty the 4th King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and the Royal Grandmother Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck in particular, and generous support received from other disciples, Bhutanese and foreigners.

At present, there are a total of 400 monks. The regular curriculum of the school includes reading, recitation of daily prayers, grammar, poetry, dances, mandala drawings, melodies of sacred rituals, use of ceremonial instruments and art of making sacrificial objects, and meditation. The monastery currently offers three main stream of studies, namely Shedra (course work), Drupdra (meditational aspects) and monastic rituals.

The monastery plays an important role in the daily life of the residents of Chamkhar village. A festival, the Trelda tsechu (5 month, 9-to 10th day of the Bhutanese calendar) is performed every 12 years (Monkey year) (last date 2004).

5 kms north of the district headquarter and 1 km from Jampa Lhakhang, this majestic complex is located on the right bank of the Chamkhar river opposite Tamshing and Khonchogsum lhakhang. The Kurje complex is made up of three buildings facing south surrounded by an enclosure made of 108 chortens.

History

Kurje is one of the most sacred sites in Bhutan as Guru Rinpoche meditated here and left the imprint (je) of his body (ku) on a rock. In the 8th century, Bumthang was under the rule of a king named Sendhaka (alias Sintu Raja) whose home was the ‘iron castle’, Chakhar. This king was at war with his southern neighbour, King Na’oche. The latter killed the son of King Sendhaka, who became so distraught that he forgot to worship his personal deity, Shelging Karpo. The angry god withdrew the king’s vital principle and as a result he fell gravely ill. As a last resort, his ministers decided to call Guru Rinpoche, whose supernatural powers were well-known throughout the Himalayas. When Guru Rinpoche arrived in Bumthang, he went to a place a short distance north of Chakhar where there was a large rock resembling a diamond-thunderbolt on the summit. Here lived the deity Shelging Karpo. Guru Rinpoche meditated there for a while, leaving the imprint of his body on the rock. Then he asked the King’s daughter, whom he had taken as his consort, to go and fetch some water in a golden ewer. While she was away, he changed into his Eight Manifestations and began to dance in the meadow. So amazing was this spectacle that all the local divinities, except Shelging Karpo, came to watch. When the king’s daughter came back, Guru Rinpoche transformed her into five princesses, each holding a golden ewer in her hand. The ewers reflected the sun’s rays directly at Shelging Karpo’s rock. Curious about this unusual flashing, Shelging Karpo decided to take the form of a white lion and come out to see what was going on. This was the moment Guru Rinpoche had been waiting for. Turning himself into a holy griffon, (garuda/jachung), he swooped down, seized Shelging Karpo and forced him to give back the King’s vital principle. At the same time he made him promise not to cause any trouble for Buddhism and to become a protective deity. Guru Rinpoche planted his pilgrim staff in the ground where it grew into a cypress tree which has a descendant said to stand to this day in front of Kurje Lhakhang. As for Shelging Karpo, he is still the deity of Kurje. King Sendhaka recovered his health and converted to Buddhism. Guru Rinpoche compelled the two kings to meet each other and make peace at a place in the Black Mountains called Nabji, where a stone pillar commemorates this meeting. This episode constitutes the first conversion to Buddhism of Bumthang.

The actual Kurje complex is made up of three buildings facing south.

The first building on the right (east) is the oldest and was built on the rock where Guru Rinpoche meditated by King Sendha of Bumthang after his conversion to Buddhism. Its structure was rebuilt by Minjur Tenpa in 1652 while he was Trongsa Penlop and before he became the 3rd Desi of Bhutan.

The second building called the Sampa lhundrup temple was built in 1900 by Ugyen Wangchuck, the First King, while he was still the Penlop of Trongsa. The temple was built to house a monumental statue of Guru Rinpoche which was modelled after the advice of the great Nyingmapa lama, the Bakha Trulku, Rigzin Khamsum Yondrol.

A third building, the Ka Gon Phur sum lhakhang, was consecrated in June 1990 by the great master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (d.1991). The construction of the new Lhakhang at Kurje was undertaken by Mayum Chonying Wangmo Dorji and the then Queen Mother, now the Royal Grand-mother Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck in keeping with the 4th King’s wishes to build a sacred image of the deity Palchen Heruka while her mother Mayum Chonying Wangmo Dorji had also wished to construct a similar big image of Dorji Phurpa (Vajrakila) at this holy spot. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche then advised the then Queen Mother, now the Royal Grand-mother to build a temple of Ka-Gong-Phur-Sum (three esoteric teachings of Kagye, Gongdue and Phurpa) on this sacred place. Thus the construction started in1984 in dedication to all the past Kings of Bhutan, and to Gongzim Ugyen Dorji, Gongzim Sonam Tobgye Dorji and Lyonchen Jigme Palden Dorji, and with deepest prayers for the long life and successful reign of the 4th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck, and for the eternal happiness and well-being of the Kingdom of Bhutan in particular and all sentient beings in general. It is the biggest and most elaborate Ka-Gong-Phur-Sum Temple of the Terma Nyingma tradition. Ka-Gong-Phur-Sum literally means Three Mystic Revelations of The Eight Pronouncements (Kagye), Abhipraya Samaja (Gongdue) and Vajra Kilaya (Phurpa).

The Royal Grandmother, Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck, also commissioned 108 chortens carved out of stones and placed at regular intervals on the top of the enclosure. These Chortens are known as Duduel or Jangchub Chortens and represent the Mind of all the Buddhas, and the steps towards spiritual enlightenment. They are symbols that commemorate Buddha’s victory over evil forces and the absolute purity of his enlightenment. They enclose the Kurje complex, transforming it into a three-dimensional mandala along a pattern set by the Samye Monastery in Tibet.

In front of the buildings there are three large chortens, one of them made up of a heap of stones which are dedicated to the three Kings of Bhutan. A little away from the main complex but facing it and on the footpath to Jampa Lhakhang, the Royal Grandmother Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck, commissioned yet another beautiful temple which was consecrated in the Summer 2008.  The temple was inspired and designed in 1988 by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche according to the Zangdopelri, Guru Rinpoche’s paradise, and Mayum Choying Wangmo Dorji (d.1994) had offered to be the patron. Unfortunately both passed away and Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck decided to take over the merituous task. The temple was built in memory of Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck’s Grandfather, Gongzim Ugyen Dorji, of her grand aunt Ani Thukten Wangmo and her parents, Gongzim Sonam Tobgye Dorji and Mayum Choying Wangmo Dorji (d.1994). The construction was carried out under the supervision of Geylong Nyabji Thinley Gyeltshen.

Architectural style / school and related art works

The oldest building to the east has two sanctuaries. Below the roof there is a carving of Guru Rinpoche as Garuda subduing the white lion. The upper temple is dedicated to the Past, Present and Future Buddhas, whose images stand in the sanctuary. On the wall to the right are painted the Twenty-One Taras and on the left are various deities associated with riches.

The lower temple is the holiest because this is the site of a cave containing a rock with the imprint of Guru Rinpoche’s body. The cave cannot be seen as it is concealed by a large statue of Guru Rinpoche. His Eight Manifestations are displayed on the altar. Just to the left of the entrance is the figure of Shelging Karpo and an altar dedicated to him. On the right of the door, a thousand statues of Guru Rinpoche are lined up against the wall accompanied by three large statues: of the white Tara, the Goddess of Compassion; Guru Rinpoche; and either Pema Lingpa or Dorje Lingpa—the identity of this image is uncertain.

The wall opposite the door, on the right of the altar, is covered with clay, high reliefs commissioned by the senior wife of the Second King, Ashi Phuntsho Chodgron, in the 1930s. They represent Guru Rinpoche and his Twenty-Five Disciples, his Eight Manifestations and various other forms accounted for in the tradition of Pema Lingpa. The ceiling is decorated with a magnificent mandala dedicated to the teaching of the esoteric text Gondu.

There are two holes in the rock to the left of the entrance. They offer a way to purify sins. The sinner is supposed to enter on one side, worm his way as best he can through the rock and come out the other side. If he gets stuck it is because he has committed too many sins and will only be able to free himself by saying prayers. (Just in front of the steps leading to the temples there is a fairly small rock with a hole which has the same purpose).

The second buiding was built in 1900 by Ugyen Wangchuck, the First King, while he was still the Penlop of Trongsa. The temple was built to house a monumental statue of Guru Rinpoche. It was modelled under the advice of the great Nyingmapa lama, the Bakha Trulku, Rigzin Khamsum Yondrol who said that the blessings brought about by the presence of this image would contribute to the prosperity and stability of the whole country. The image of Guru Rinpoche is about ten metres (over 32 feet) high and is surrounded by his Manifestations as they appear in the Sampa Lhundrup text. An image of the historical Buddha sits on the left side of the altar and Zangdopelri, the paradise of Guru Rinpoche, is on the right.

Facing the entrance, a second, smaller statue of Guru Rinpoche was commissioned by Tamshing Jagar, in the early 1960s. To the left of the window there is a large painting of the 4th reincarnation of Pema Lingpa, Ngawang Kunzang Dorje (1680–1723), and on the right is a painting of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal with on his right the Umze Tenzin Drugye (First Desi of Bhutan from I651 to 1656), and on his left Pekar Juney (the First Je Khenpo).

The porch forming the entrance to this temple contains particularly fine paintings of the Guardians of the Four Directions and various indigenous deities who were subdued by Guru Rinpoche and transformed into protectors of Buddhism: Dorje Legpa red in colour, holding a diamond-thunderbolt and riding on a goat; Ekajati, dark red, with one tooth and one eye; Yakdu Nagpo, the guardian deity of the valley, coloured black and mounted on a black yak; Kyebu Lungten, the guardian deity of the Four Valleys of Bumthang, red, wearing armour and mounted on a red horse; and of course Shelging Karpo, Kurje’s deity, coloured white and riding a white horse.

The temple of Ka-Gong-Phur-Sum to the West has three storeys with the main image of Palchen Chemchog Heruka (Mahasri Parama Heruka) in wrathful form or in short form “Mahasri Heruka of Palchen Duepa”, with his mystic consort standing imposingly from the first to the third floor. Though there are different forms of Palchen Heruka in various traditions of Vajrayana Buddhism, this particular one installed in the new Temple of Kurjey is the Chief of all Mahasri Heruka, and this sacred image has been made in accordance with the Longchen Nyingthig (The Heart Essence of Vast Openness) tradition. The image of Palchen Heruka has the beneficial effect of averting all undesirable elements like war, internal strife, natural calamities, misfortune, epidemics and bringing peace and happiness to the county.

On the right of Palchen Heruka stands the 17 feet image of Drangsong Throepa Lama Gondue with 3 heads, 6 hands and 4 legs while his consort has one head with two hands and two legs. On the left side of Palchen Heruka stands a 17 feet image of Sinbu Throepa Palchen Dorji Phurpa or Vajrakila with 3 heads, 6 hands and 4 legs with his consort who has one face with two hands and two legs.

Life size statues on the top floor on the right of Palchen Heruka are KHEN-LOB-CHOE-SUM or Khenchen Bodhisattava (Shantaraksita) on the right, Lopon (Guru) Rinpoche in the centre and Choegyal Thrisong Detsen on the left. Images of the lineage of Nyingmapa Lamas adorn the top portion of the altar.

On the side of Palchen Heruka on the top floor are statues of Drogoen Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorji (12th c.), founder of the Drukpa Kargyu tradition with Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (17th c.) and Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye (17th c.), the fourth Desi of Bhutan on the right and left respectively. Images of the lineage of Drukpa Kargyu Lamas are beautifully placed in a row above the three statues.

Statues in the middle floor are Kagye (The Eight Pronouncements), Gongdue (Abhipraya Samaja) and Phurpa (Vajra Kilaya). They are the Chief Tutelary Deities (Yidam) of the Terma tradition of Buddhism in the Kingdom.

Statues on the ground floor are BuddhaSakyamuni which is the main image on this floor with Sariputra and Moggallana standing on his right and left, the sixteen Arhats

(Neten Chudrug), Hashang, Upasaka Dhamata, and the four guardian kings of the Four Directions (Digpalas).

Social cultural function

Kurje is a very important place of pilgrimage for the Bhutanese as well as the Buddhist from all over the world. The caretakers of the temples are usually from the Trongsa monastic community. Some of the monks from Trongsa dzong spend the summer at Kurje and perform numerous rituals including a Tsechu festival on the 10th day of the 5th Bhutanese month when a thangka is unfurled.

Since 1990, the Royal Grandmother Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck sponsors in the 4th Bhutanese month a ceremony (Grub) for the well-being of the Kings and the country in the Ka Gon Phur sum lhakhang.

The kings and some royal family members are cremated in Kurje.

4 kms north of the headquarter, Konchogsum Lhakhang is located on the left bank of the Chamkhar river opposite Kuje complex and very close to Tamshing temple. This tiny temple is surrounded by an enclosure. Like any ancient temple in the Tibetan cultural area, the sanctuary consists of a small central shrine which may have had a circumambulation path.

History

Konchogsum Lhakhang (called Tsilung or Choekhor in the texts) dates, according to the saint Pema Lingpa, as far back as the 8th century. The temple is supposed to have been built by  the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen after receiving instructions fromGuru Rinpoche to do so. The king sent one Bami Trisher from central Tibet to supervise the construction and Guru Rinpoche himself is said to have designed and consecrated the temple. However another Bhutanese tradition considers that it is one of the temples founded by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century.

In 1039 Bonpo Dragtshel, the first active terton (‘discoverer of religious Treasures’) in Bhutan, discovered texts which had been hidden by Guru Rinpoche at this spot. It is said that the king of the water deities rose out of the lake beneath the temple and offered Bonpo Dragtshel a stone pillar and a stone scroll.

Another story in the oral tradition claims that the saint Pema Lingpa in the 15th century also discovered religious treasures here, which he found in an underground lake. He then sealed up the entrance with a block of stone and set his lotus seal on it. Both can be seen in the courtyard. Following a prophecy to repair the temple, Pema Lingpa undertook the renovation of Chokhor Lhakhang in 1479. He mobilized the people of the valley to work on the project and invited an artist called Kungawo from Lhodrak, who restored the paintings. To fund the project, Pema Lingpa was told in a prophecy to extract gold from behind the Vairocana statue. This, he did in public only to reveal a thumb size wax figure of a donkey. However, the next day he found two tiny pieces of gold hidden in the wax donkey which miraculously turned out to be sufficient for gilding all statues and murals. The restoration took two years.

Several great visitors came to the temple, one of them being the Tibetan Dzogchen master Sogdogpa Lodro Gyaltsen (1552-1624). He noted that the locals call this temple Konchogsum Lhakhang  “The three jewels” for its three main statues. The temple was gutted by a fire caused by a butter-lamp in February 2010 but the statues were saved.

Architectural style / school and related art works

This temple is famous for its ancient relic, a bronze bell (choedril), which bears an inscription from the eighth century on the inside. The chimes could be heard all the way to Tibet. The Tibetan army was sent to get it but the bell was so heavy that the soldiers could not lift it and they let it fall, which explains why it is broken. The bell remained in Bhutan.

As for the pillar which stands in front of the enclosure, it is probably an ancient megalith. Megaliths are very common in Bhutan and especially in this region. The main statues in the sanctuary are the Buddha Vairocana, which seems to point to the antiquity of the temple, Guru Rinpoche and Avalokiteshvara.  There are also statues of the great Nyingmapa masters of the Dzogchen tradition: Pema Lingpa and Longchen Rabjam (14th c.). On the walls there were paintings of Guru Rinpoche as well as Pema Lingpa, Longchen Rabjam and Jigme Lingpa (18th c.).

Social cultural function

The temple is an important historical place for the Bhutanese and it is also a place of worship for the villagers in its vicinity. It is looked after by a caretaker of the next by Tamshing monastic community. A school for young monks has been built in 2009 next to the temple and is attached to Tamshing monastic community which upholds the religious teachings of Pema Lingpa (1450-1505).

The temple looks like a large house but has a sertho (“golden pinnacle”) on the roof. It is sort of hidden amidst recent constructions at the foot of the hill of Jakar dzong, near Kaila’s guest-house.

History

Founded in 1445 by a descendant of the great Nyingma pa lama Dorje Lingpa  (1346-14050.

Architectural style / school and related art works

The temple upper floor  contains some very fine paintings, especially one of the deity of Victory and Long Life, Ushnishavijaya (Tsugtor Namgyalma) represented in a chorten. The temple appears to have been restored at the end of the l9th century as there is a painting of the Shabdrung Jigme Choegyel (1862–1904). The principal statue is Guru Rinpoche.

Social cultural function

It is private and people from the vicinity use the temple as a place of worship.

History
Like Kyichu Lhakhang in the Paro valley (see page 131), this temple is said to be the first that King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet constructed in Bhutan in the seventhCentury. It is one of the 108 temples built by him throughout Tibet and theHimalayas to overcome a giant demoness. While Kyichu Lhakhang was erected on the demoness’s left foot, and was one of the temples built ‘to subjugate regions beyond the frontiers’, Jampa Lhakhang was placed on the left knee and was one of the temples built ‘to subjugate the frontiers’. When Guru Rinpoche came to Bhutan, it is said that he preached the teachings of the Kagye cycle to King Sendhaka and his court from the roof of the temple. In addition to the main sanctuary containing the statue of Jampa, four more sanctuaries were added after the middle of the 19th century, creating a closed courtyard in front of the main sanctuary. The exact dates of the founding and restoration of the different sanctuaries arenot clear, except that the whole complex was partially restored by Ugyen Wangchuk’s brother-in-law, the Jakar Dzongpon, Chime Dorje, in 1905. Outside the temple, a long building was erected in 1999 to serve as an assembly place during the great annual prayer (Monlam  Chenmo) instituted that year, and it is in front of this building that, in the autumn,  the Jampa lhakhang festival (Grub/Drup) takes place. More buildings were added in 2005.

Architectural style / school and related art works
The central shrine contains an inner sanctum with a large statue of Maitreya, framed on either side by Four Bodhisattvas. These clay statues are makeable and probably very ancient. On one side of the doorway leading into the main shrine there is a painting of the historical Buddha and, on the other, a painting of the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. The circumambulation path walls are covered with paintings of the Thousand Buddhas and ornate by a long row of prayer wheels.

The sanctuary of Duki khorlo, or Dukhor (Kalacakra), is on the right of the main Sanctuary forming the right side of the courtyard (north). It was built by Jigme Namgyal or his son Ugyen Wangchuk at the end of the 19th century. Kalacakra, the Wheel of Time, is considered to be the most complex of the cycles of Tantric teachings, and is the one most recently propagated. According to Himalayan tradition, it was preached by Buddha and then kept secret for several centuries in the fabled kingdom of Shambala. After reappearing in India around AD 966, it was introduced into Tibet in 1026. The deity who symbolizes Kalacakra is colored dark blue, with 32 arms, oneyellow leg and one red leg. He is in sexual embrace with his consort, who is orange. The temple’s main image represents this deity and the smaller statues represent his entourage. The splendid paintings devoted to the Karling Shitro cycle are of ‘the peaceful and terrifying deities according to Karma Lingpa’ who appear in the intermediary state between death and rebirth. The Gonkhang is situated near the Dukhor sanctuary is never open for visits.

The Chorten Lhakhang (north) is in an extension of the Dukikhorlo Lhakhang. It was built by Ashi Wangmo, the present King’s great grand-aunt, who became a nun of the Karmapa school. This temple is dedicated to the 1st Benchey Lama, a reincarnation of the Karmapa school who died around 1940 and was one of the Wangchuck family’s chaplains. His chorten is in the middle of the temple. On the right-hand wall there is a painting of the lineage of the Karmapas, and the left wall depicts the Thirty-Five Buddhas of Confession.

The Guru Lhakhang forms the left side of the courtyard (south). It was founded by the Jakar Dzongpon, Tsondru Gyeltsen, in the middle of the 19th century. The main statue is of Guru Rinpoche flanked by images of Avalokiteshvara and Amitayus, the Buddha of long life. On the wall to the right are the Twenty-One Taras. On the left-hand wall are Avalokiteshvara with a thousand eyes and a thousand hands, and Sukhavati—the Western Heaven of the Buddha of infinite light Amitabha. On the right of the window there is a painting of the great master Pema Lingpa and, on the left, the protective deity Gonpo Maning (one aspect of Mahakala).

The Sangye Lhakhang is above the complex main entrance (east). This ‘temple of Buddhas’ was founded by the 2nd King, Jigme Wangchuck. The main statues represent the Buddhas of the Seven Ages. The wall on the right depicts the esoteric cycle of the Gondu. On the left are Guru Rinpoche and his Eight Manifestations, Avalokiteshvara and the Medicine Buddhas whose principal figure is dark blue, holding a myrobolan fruit (Terminalia Chebula) in his hand.

Social cultural function
A caretaker from the state monastic community of Trongsa dzong looks after the temple, usually for a period of three to five years. The temple is an important pilgrimage place for the Bhutanese and people from all over the Buddhist Himalayas. It is also a daily place of worship for the villagers in its vicinity. The great prayer Monlam chenmo is an important date in the calendar of Bumthang and see hundreds of people gathering every day for one week. The high point of the year is the festival Drup/grub which takes place from the 15th to the 19th of the 9th Bhutanese month. Thousands of people from all over Bumthang and beyond come to watch the religious dances and buy all kinds of things at the fair. Numerous tourists now join them.