Shuk Drak Goenpa () is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monastery in

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, located at an altitude of 2680 metres in Kharsa village of

Bumthang District Bumthang District (Dzongkha: བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Bum-thang rzong-khag'') is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) comprising Bhutan. It contains numerous temples and Buddhist sacred sites. The district is divide ...

. Shuk Drak is one of four sacred cliffs of

Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is considered an em ...

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.

History

According to the biography of King Sindhu Raja, called The Clear Mirror,

is said to have arrived there in the form of Blood Drinking Wrathful Padma, meditated and concealed many treasures. Some of the sacred wonders to see are footprint of Guru Rinpoche and his walking stick, footprint of Khandro Yeshe Tshogyal and many more. Shuk Drak Goenpa is known by many names like Chung drag, Shug Drag, Zhugdra, and Shuel Drak. Shugdrak is divided into three parts namely Drakar Namkha Dzong at the upper end, Duedul Singye Dzong in the middle, and Chungchen khading Dzong at the foothills. The Shugdra Lhakhang was built by Garpa Nado in 1944.The main statue of the Goenpa is

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajracharya, Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is consi ...

discovered by Garpa Nado. The

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

around Shuk Drak will take one whole day to complete visiting all the sacred sites.

Festival

Every year, on the 4th day of the 6th month, which corresponds to the First Sermon of Lord Buddha, ''Choetshog'' is performed, while the ''Zhithro'' ritual is conducted on the 11th day of the 6th month, which corresponds to the

winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

References

External links

Brief History of Chungchen Khading Drag famously Known as Shugdra/Zhugdra
Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in Bhutan {{Bhutan-Tibetan-Buddhism-monastery-stub

History

Festival

See also

References

External links