temples in bhutan

• Lhakhangs

  Temples and monasteries
• Temples in Bhutan were built several centuries earlier, some as far back as the 5th and 6th century A.D or before
• Temples built before Guru Rinpoche's visit

  • Main statues are Maitriya Buddha or Jowo Jampa (the future Buddha)
• Temples built after Guru Rinpoche's visit

  • Main statues are Buddha Vairochana Nampar Nangzey or Gyelwa Rig Nga, and Guru Rinpoche's images are given a central position
• Jampa Lhakhang in Bumthang and Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro were built around the time when Songtsen Gampo (617-698 A.D) was ruling in Tibet
• Songtsen Gampo was the first ruler in Tibet who introduced Buddhism in that country
• According to mythology, Kyichu and Jampa lhakhangs were part of Songtsen Gampo's scheme of constructing 108 temples to subdue a demoness
• The story of completing the construction of 108 temples in a single day is a myth
• Jampa Lhakhang and Kyichu Lhakhang were in fact built by local devotees much earlier
• Several other lhakhangs, including Lhakhang Karpo and Nagpo in Haa, and Koenchog – Sum Lhakhang and Gayney Lhakhang in Bumthang were constructed around the 6th or 7th century AD and perhaps even earlier than Kyichu and Jampa Lhakhangs
• All these lhakhangs have Jowo Jampa as the principal statue
• Even after over 1,500 years, all these lhakhangs are still intact and today they constitute some of the holiest shrines in Bhutan
• There would have been several other lhakhangs perhaps built throughout the country around the same period which over these 1,500 years may have been destroyed by fire, earthquakes and other natural forces
• The newly discovered information on some of our ancient lhakhangs further prove that Buddhism was already flourishing in Bhutan much earlier than believed hitherto
• Buddhism was flourishing in several parts of the country by the time of Guru Rinpoche's first visit to Bhutan on 746 A.D
• Jampa/Jampey Lhakhang

  Temple of Maitreya, the future Buddha
• Jampa Lhakhang and Kyichu Lhakhang were constructed


  7th century
• Jampa Lhakhang


  • Walled one-storey low complex built on a plateau above the river Chamkhar
  • Main sanctuary with a circumambulation path
  • Enclosed and surrounded by other temples built at the turn of the 20th century
  • Four chortens (stupa), each of a different color, built at the corners of the enclosure
• When Guru Rinpoche came to Bhutan, he preached the teachings of the Kagyu cycle to King Sendhaka and his court from the roof of the Jampa Lhakhang
• The whole Jampa Lhakhang complex was partially restored by Ugyen Wangchuk's brother-in-law, the Jakar Dzongpon, Chime Dorje, in 1905
• A long building was erected in 1999 to serve as an assembly place during the great annual prayer (Monlam Chenmo) instituted that year
• More buildings were added to the Jampa Lhakhang complex in 2005
• Social cultural function of Jampa Lhakhang

  • Important pilgrimage place for the Bhutanese and people from all over the Buddhist Himalayas
  • Daily place of worship for the villagers in its vicinity
  • Hosts the great prayer Monlam chenmo annually
  • Hosts the Drup/grub festival from the 15th to the 19th of the 9th Bhutanese month, which sees thousands of people from all over Bumthang and beyond come to watch the religious dances and buy things at the fair