Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, was a semi-legendary tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries. He is considered an emanation or Nirmāṇakāya of Shakyamuni Buddha as foretold by the Buddha himself. According to early Tibetan sources including the Testament of Ba, he came to Tibet in the 8th century and designed Samye Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet during the reign of King Trisong Detsen. He, the king, and Khenpo Shantarakshita are also responsible for creating the Tibetan Canon through translating all of the Buddha's teachings and their commentaries into the Tibetan language.
Haa District is one of the 20 dzongkhag or districts comprising Bhutan. An alternative name for the district is "Hidden-Land Rice Valley." It the second least-populated dzongkhag in the country after Gasa.
Paro District is a district (dzongkhag), valley, river and town in Bhutan. It is one of the most historic valleys in Bhutan. Both trade goods and invading Tibetans came over the pass at the head of the valley, giving Paro the closest cultural connection with Tibet of any Bhutanese district. The dominant language in Paro is Dzongkha, the national language.
Trashiyangtse District is one of the twenty dzongkhags (districts) comprising Bhutan. It was created in 1992 when Trashiyangtse district was split off from Trashigang District. Trashiyangtse covers an area of 1,437.9 square kilometres (555.2 sq mi). At an elevation of 1750–1880 m, Trashi yangtse dzongkhag is rich of culture filled with sacred places blessed by Guru Rimpoche and dwelled by Yangtseps, Tshanglas, Bramis from Tawang, Khengpas from Zhemgang and Kurtoeps from Lhuentse.
Kurjey Lhakang,སྐུ་རྗེས་ ཡང་ན་ གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་གི་ ཞབས་རྗེས་ also known as the Kurjey Monastery, is located in the Bumthang valley in the Bumthang district of Bhutan. This is the final resting place of the remains of the first three Kings of Bhutan. Also, a large tree behind one of the temple buildings is believed to be a terma that was left there by Padmasambhava.
Thimphu District is a dzongkhag (district) of Bhutan. Thimphu is also the capital of Bhutan and the largest city in the whole kingdom.
Paro is a town and seat of Paro District, in the Paro Valley of Bhutan. It is an historic town with many sacred sites and historical buildings scattered throughout the area. It is also home to Paro International Airport, Bhutan's sole international airport. Paro International Airport is served by Drukair.
Yerpa is a monastery and a number of ancient meditation caves that used to house about 300 monks, located a short drive to the east of Lhasa, Tibet.
Gangteng Monastery, also known as Gangtey Gonpa or Gangtey Monastery, is a monastery of Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, the main seat of the Pema Lingpa tradition, located in the Wangdue Phodrang District in central Bhutan. The monastery, also known by the Gangten village that surrounds it, is in the Phobjikha Valley where winter visitors – the black-necked cranes – visit central Bhutan to roost, circling the monastery three times on arrival and repeating this circling when returning to Tibet. The monastery's history traces to the early 17th century and back to the prophecies made by the terton Pema Lingpa in the late 15th century.
Paro Taktsang, is a sacred Vajrayana Himalayan Buddhist site located in the cliffside of the upper Paro valley in Bhutan. It is one of thirteen Tiger's Nest caves in historical Tibet in which Padmasambhava practiced and taught Vajrayana.
The Tango Monastery is a Buddhist monastery located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) to the north of the capital city of Thimphu in Bhutan, near Cheri Mountain. It was founded by Phajo Drugom Zhigpo in the 13th century and built in its present form by Tenzin Rabgye, the 4th Temporal Ruler in 1688. In 1616, the Tibetan lama Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal meditated in its cave. The self-emanated form of the wrathful Hayagriva is deified in the monastery. It belongs to the Drukpa Kagyu School of Buddhism in Bhutan.
The Jampa Temple or Temple of Maitreya is located in Bumthang (Jakar) in Bhutan, and is said to be one of the 108 temples built by Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo in 659 CE on a single day, to pin down an ogress to earth forever.
Thowadra Monastery is a cliffside Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Tang Valley of Bumthang District, Bhutan. Thowadra means "high rock", given its location and altitude of 3,400 metres (11,200 ft).
Kunzangdrak is a Buddhist sacred site in the Tang Valley of central Bhutan. It lies at an altitude of 3,350 metres in the hollow of a cliff.
Ta Rimochan or Ti Rimochen is a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan belonging to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Yongla Monastery is a Nyingma Buddhist monastery in Pema Gatshel in Bhutan and is located at Yongloa on top of a mountain and is seen when one goes through the national highway linking Samdrup Jongkhar and Pema Gatshel.
Yonphula Lhakhang is a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan. It is situated in the Eastern District of Bhutan. The Lhakhang or monastery in Yonphula was founded by Tantric Master Lama Karpo Rinpoche alias Lama Tshewang Penjor. He was the disciple of Tertoen Dudjom Lingpa Jigdrel Yeshi Dorji, who named him as Lama Karpo. Before he actually met with his karmic Master, Lama Karpo went to Tibet to learn and master the Tantric practices. There in Kongbu, Tibet, he has mastered and directed him by his master therefrom to visit his Karmic Master Dudjom Rinpoche. Lama Karpo Meditated in Paro Taktshang. While meditating in the cave, where Guru Rinpoche had meditated, he heard a clear voice from the Guru's statue. He was said to have astonished by this and felt himself to be experiencing an illusion; on another occasion, he had a conversation with the statue. In later years, he returned to Trashigang and founded Yonphula Monastery. It is approximately 2700 meters above the sea level. It is few km away from the Yongphulla Airport Currently, the abode is headed by Lama Jigme Tenzin, son of Lama Karpo. There are approximately 100 gomchens. They perform periodical rituals and other related religious rituals. There is a Meditation Center where many Gomchens meditate for minimum of three years. After that, they are known to be tshampas or Yogi. They follow the Nyingma Tersar religion. It performs its Tshechu in the tenth day of the third month of the Lunar calendar annually. It is called Trelda Tshechu.
Khamdang Gewog is a gewog of Trashiyangtse District, Bhutan.
Tulku Jigme Chhoeda became the 70th Je Khenpo of Bhutan in 1996, and became the longest-serving holder of the office.
Shuk Drak Goenpa is a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan, located at an altitude of 2680 metres in Kharsa village of Bumthang District. Shuk Drak is one of four sacred cliffs of Guru Rinpoche where he mediated to gain the power to subdue the local deity Sheling Karpo in the 8th century. The other three are Choedrak, Kunzangdrak and Thowadrak. It is a 45-minute drive from Chamkhar town to the base of the site and a 20-minute walk uphill. It will just take 30 minutes if you walk from Kharsa Primary School.
