Thowadra Monastery is a cliffside

Buddhist monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may ...

in the Tang Valley 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 ...

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 , ...

. Thowadra means "high rock", given its location and altitude of . Thowadrak is 47 kilometers from Chamkhar Town and it is a 3-hour hike from the nearest farm road point. It is one of the four sacred cliffs of Guru Rinpoche in Bumthang. The other three are Choedrak, Kunzangdrak and Shukdrak.

History

The site was blessed by

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 ...

, who came here to meditate during the 8th century. He is said to have left behind a wooden bird which he used to expel an evil king from the

beyul According to the beliefs of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul () are hidden valleys often encompassing hundreds of square kilometers, which Padmasambhava blessed as refuges. Tertöns may reveal them from terma at specific and appro ...

"hidden land" of Khenpajong. The monastery itself was founded in 1238 by Lorepa (1187-1250), the lama of the

Drukpa Lineage The Drukpa or Drukpa Kagyu () lineage, sometimes called Dugpa in older sources, is a branch of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu school is one of the Sarma or "New Translation" schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Drukpa lineage w ...

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 Buddhism, Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. ...

school who established

Choedrak Monastery Choedrak Monastery is a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan, located at an altitude of 3,800 metres, not far from Tharpaling Monastery in Bumthang District. Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated at this spot. It is 37 kilometers from Chamkhar and ta ...

. The site was originally a hermitage, once sanctified by the presence of both

Longchenpa Longchen Rabjam Drimé Özer (), or simply Longchenpa (1308–1364, "The Great One Who Is the Vast Cosmic Expanse") was a Tibetan scholar-yogi of the Nyingma school, the 'Old School' of Tibetan Buddhism. According to tibetologist David German ...

and Dorje Lingpa. A

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

community was established later in the 18th century by Changchub Gyeltsen (Jigme Kundrel), a disciple of

Dzogchen Dzogchen ( 'Great Completion' or 'Great Perfection'), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The goal ...

master

Jigme Lingpa Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798) was a Tibetan ''tertön'' of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the promulgator of the Longchen Nyingthig, the Heart Essence teachings of Longchenpa, from whom, according to tradition, he received a v ...

(1730-1798). A noted

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

plagued with

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

, Gelongma Pelmo, also meditated here. Since the 18th century it has been occupied by followers of Jigme Lingpa, who was one of the most important

tertön In Tibetan Buddhism, a Tertön () is a person who is a discoverer of ancient hidden texts or '' terma''. Many tertöns are considered to be incarnations of the twenty five main disciples of Padmasambhava ( Guru Rinpoche), who foresaw a dark time in ...

s of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, and Jigme Kundrol of the Longchen Nyingthig tradition. Thowadra marks the entrance to Khenpajong east of Lhedam in north Bumthang and

Lhuntse District Lhuentse District (Dzongkha: ལྷུན་རྩེ་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie transliteration, Wylie: ''Lhun-rtse rdzong-khag''; previously "Lhuntshi", and officially spelled ''Lhuentse'' ) is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) in Bhuta ...

s.Dorje (1999), p. 861.

References

Footnotes

* Dorje, Gyurme (1999). ''Tibet Handbook with Bhutan''. Footprint Handbooks. Bath, England. . * Pommaret, Francoise. (2006) ''Bhutan: Himalayan Mountain Kingdom'', Fifth Edition (Odyssey Illustrated Guides) (Paperback). . 1238 establishments in Asia Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in Bhutan {{Bhutan-Tibetan-Buddhism-monastery-stub

History

See also

References

Footnotes