The Dratshang Lhentshog (

Dzongkha Dzongkha (; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script. The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language". , Dzongkha had 171,080 ...

: ; Wylie: ''grwa-tshang lhan-tshogs'') is the Commission for the Monastic Affairs of

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

. Under the 2008 Constitution, it is the bureaucracy that oversees the

Drukpa Kagyu The Drukpa Kagyu (), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources,

sect of Buddhism, which is the

state religion A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

of Bhutan. Although Bhutan has a state religion, the role of the religious bureaucracy is ideally meant to complement secular institutions within a

dual system of government The Dual System of Government is the traditional diarchal political system of Tibetan peoples whereby the Desi (temporal ruler) coexists with the spiritual authority of the realm, usually unified under a third single ruler. The actual distribut ...

Composition and function

Under the 2008 Constitution, the Dratshang Lhentshog is made up of seven members: the Je Khenpo serves as the chairman, with the Five Lopons (

: སློབ་དཔོན་ལྔ་; Wylie: ''slob-dpon lnga'') of the Zhung Dratshang (

: གཞུང་གྲྭ་ཚང་; Wylie: ''gzhung grwa-tshang''; "Central Monastic Body") and a civil servant who serves as the secretary, also serving on the committee. Under the 2008 Constitution, it is mandated that the Zhung Dratshang and ''rabdeys'' (monastic bodies in

dzong Dzong architecture is used for dzongs, a distinctive type of fortified monastery ( dz, རྫོང, , ) architecture found mainly in Bhutan and Tibet. The architecture is massive in style with towering exterior walls surrounding a complex of cou ...

s other than Punakha and

Thimphu Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient capital city ...

) receive state funding and facilities adequate to support the

Drukpa Kagyu The Drukpa Kagyu (), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources,

sect. The Five Lopons are also responsible for appointing the Je Khenpo. They recommend a learned and respected monk ordained in accordance with the Druk-lu who possesses the nine qualities of a spiritual master, and is accomplished in ''ked-dzog'' (spiritual development and completion), to the King of Bhutan. The King then appoints that monk to the office of Je Khenpo and in turn, the Lopons are appointed on the same criteria by the Je Khenpo on the advice of the remaining members of the Dratshang Lhentshog. The sitting Je Khenpo is the formal leader of the southern branch of the

Drukpa Kagyu The Drukpa Kagyu (), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources,

sect, which is part of the

Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineag ...

tradition of

Himalayan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

. The primary duty of the Je Khenpo is to lead the Dratshang Lhentshog and to arbitrate on matters of doctrine, assisted by the Five Lopons. The Je Khenpo is also responsible for many important liturgical and religious duties across the country. Aside from the King of Bhutan, only the Je Khenpo may don a saffron

kabney A kabney ( Dzongkha: བཀབ་ནེ་; Wylie: ''bkab-ne'') is a silk scarf worn as a part of the gho, the traditional male attire in Bhutan.Gyurme Dorje. ''Footprint Bhutan''. Footprint, 004 . Section "National dress", p 261 It is raw silk, ...

References

External links

* *{{cite web , url=http://www.constitution.bt/TsaThrim%20Dzongkha%20(A5).pdf , format=PDF , title=༄༅།།འབྲུག་གི་རྩ་ཁྲིམས་ཆེན་མོ།། , trans-title=The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan , date=2008-07-18 , publisher=Government of Bhutan , language=dz , access-date=2010-10-19 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706163717/http://www.constitution.bt/TsaThrim%20Dzongkha%20%28A5%29.pdf , archive-date=2011-07-06 State religion in Bhutan Religious law Buddhism and government Government commissions of Bhutan

Composition and function

See also

References

External links