On the morning before leaving Jakar for the drive back to Trongsa we made a whirlwind tour of some of the many lhakhangs in the area. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Guru Rinpoche made his first visit to Bhutan and conversions to Buddhism here and one of Nyingma Buddhism’s most important saints was born here.
We started our rounds of lhakhang at the Jampey (or Jampa) Lhakhang, which shares the claim for being the first temple constructed in Bhutan by King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet in 659 with the Kyichu Lhakhang in the Paro valley. Gampo built 108 temples in Tibet and throughout the Himalayas on a single day to overcome a giant supine demoness by pinning her to the earth. Jampa Lhakhang was placed on the demoness’s left knee. Four temples were added in the latter half of the 19th century. The complex was partially restored in 1905, but that’s still more than a century ago, so this place feels old.
Just a short walk away was the new (2008) Zangtopelri Lhakhang. It was built over a period of seven years with financial assistance from Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck. It was built in memory of her grandfather Gongzim Ugyen Dorji, her grand aunt Ane Thukten Wangmo and her parents Gongzim Sonam Tobgye Dorji and Mayum Choying Wangmo Dorji.
Did you notice how much more painting there is on the new versus the old lhakhang?
Further up the road was the Kurjey Lhakhang, a much larger complex built on a site where Guru Rinpoche meditated and left the imprint of his body on a rock. The temple over Guru Rinpoche’s imprint was built in 1652; the second temple was built in 1900 by Ugyen Wangchuck, the First King of Bhutan, while he was still the Penlop of Trongsa. The third temple dates from 1900 and was sponsored by the then Queen Mother Ashi Kesang.
Across the river, we visited the Tamshing Goempa which was established in 1501 by Pema Lingpa. It is the most important Nyingma gonpa in Bhutan. Tamshing supports a body of over 80 monks. Mostly under the age of 15, these monks are either orphans or from very poor families who can’t afford to send their children to a state school.
We then visited Jakar Dzong, a much smaller dzong than the one’s I’d seen so far. Originally built as a monastery in 1549, it was converted into a dzong in 1646. It was badly damaged by the 1897 earthquake and rebuilt on a smaller scale in 1905. Here the courtyards were very small compared to those at Thimphu and Punakha, giving this dzong a more intimate feel.
