𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐤 𝐘𝐮𝐥: 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓮 𝓸𝓷 𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓱.

Chung-ney Goenpa (ཁྱུང་གནས་དགོན་པ)

Chung-ney Goenpa (ཁྱུང་གནས་དགོན་པ) aka Chungdu Goenpa (monastery) is located above Katekha village in Sha Phangyuel, Wangdue Phodrang—barely half an hour drive from the Gewog Centre via farm road.

Chung means Garuda; Ney means abode—an abode of Garuda.

The Goenpa was founded by Drubthob (yogi) Thinley Pema. The three-story monastery houses sacred Buddhist text, ancient statues of Buddhist saints and Guru Sung Joen (speaking Guru statue) as the mainstay. It also has an effigy of local deity Thinley Zam.

*Katekha: Phuensum Deki School; Chung-ney Goenpa on the hill.*

The monastery is perched on the hill above Phuensum Deki school. On the heart of the hill lies the meditational cave where Guru Rinpoche invoked Garuda thereby subdued the dreadful local spirits.

Earlier, there was a naturally formed rock resembling Garuda, but it was taken—breaking the rock.

The cave is said to be holy and therefore if one devotionally recites Vajra Guru mantra, one can observe holy water droppings (བདུད་རྩི) from the rocks. Some folks claim that the holy water has a healing effect when used on the harm inflicted by dreadful naga & local spirits (ཀླུ་གཉན་དང་ས་བདག).
There is also naturally formed—the sun and moon-shaped rocks in front of the cave. A hollow rock on the right side of the cave is to examine persons virtuous and unvirtuous deeds (དགེ་སྡིག་ཤན་ཕྱེ་ས).
The bowl-shaped rock on the left side of the cave is said to be Guru’s bathtub.

*Below:* **Katekha** *village. Far end:* **Sha Bjena** *valley*

Chung-ney Goenpa faces ecologically abundant Sha Bjena valley. Sha: Kazhi Nyisho and Rubesa can be spotted as well at the far end and also some parts of Sha Chitokha.

The view is extraordinarily enchanting—heavenly feel!

*Goenkhar Kangtek Donkhor Lhakhang, Katekha*

*Glimpse of* ***Sha****: Samteygang, Gelekha, Nyishokha, Chitokha, Chungseykha* *and Kazhi*.

𝐙𝐚𝐛𝐝𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠: 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦.

𝚉𝚊𝚋𝚍𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙻𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚙𝚝𝚜𝚎 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐 (ཟབ་དོན་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་རྩེ་ཕོ་བྲང་) 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝟷𝟽𝟷𝟻 𝚋𝚢 𝙴𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚔 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚒, 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚔 𝚁𝚊𝚋𝚐𝚢𝚎 𝚊𝚔𝚊 𝙳𝚎𝚙𝚊 𝙹𝚊𝚠𝚘 (སྡེ་པ་རྒྱ་བོ) 𝚊𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎—𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚆𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚂𝚑𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛 (ཤིང་མོ་ལུག་ལོ).
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙱𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚑𝚊 (ཐུབ་པའི་དབང་པོ) 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐 (𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎).

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝙳𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝙲𝚑𝚘𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝙶𝚢𝚎𝚍 (𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚙𝚊𝚜), 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚎𝚜.

𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚔 𝚁𝚊𝚋𝚐𝚢𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚒 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝙿𝚒𝚐 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛.

𝙴𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚁𝚒𝚐𝚣𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝙻𝚘𝚋𝚍𝚛𝚊 (𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙲𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜) 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚓𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙹𝚒𝚐𝚖𝚎 𝙳𝚘𝚛𝚓𝚒 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚗 𝟷𝟼 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟷𝟿𝟼𝟷 𝚊𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚕𝚐𝚘 𝙺𝚑𝚢𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜𝚎 𝚁𝚒𝚗𝚙𝚘𝚌𝚑𝚎 (𝟷𝟿𝟷𝟶-𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟷). 𝙻𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚎𝚖𝚝𝚘𝚔𝚑𝚊, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚝𝚜𝚎, 𝚃𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚊.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟹 𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟶. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚊𝚞𝚕 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙳𝚘𝚛𝚓𝚒 𝙻𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚁𝚒𝚗𝚙𝚘𝚌𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝟸𝟺 𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟶—𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚓𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚓𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚔 𝙶𝚢𝚊𝚕𝚙𝚘, 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚓𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚢𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚞𝚖𝚜, 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝚁𝚘𝚢𝚊𝚕 𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚢𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚢𝚊𝚕 𝙵𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚢.

**His Majesty and The Gyalsey; His Majesty the Great Fourth and Gyalyums at background.** *pc. His Majesty’s fb page.*

𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚊𝚢𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚐-𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚘𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝙱𝚑𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚜.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚃𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒 𝙲𝚑𝚘𝚎𝚍𝚣𝚘𝚗𝚐—𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙰𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚍𝚢𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚞 𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚢.

𝙸𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕!

Eight sacred Dzongs around Singye Dzong.

The eight significant Dzong(s) embedded on cliffs at Singye Dzong are Singye Dzong, Tsemo Dzong (རྩེ་མོ་རྫོང་), Rinchen Dzong (རིན་ཆེན་རྫོང་), Gawa Dzong (དགའ་བ་རྫོང་), Dhuelwa Dzong (འདུལ་བ་རྫོང་), Dorji Dzong (རྡོ་རྗེ་རྫོང་), Namkha Dzong (གནམ་ཁ་རྫོང་) and Pema Dzong (པདྨ་རྫོང་).

These sacred Dzongs have its respective crematorium in the form of rocks. These Dzongs signifies Guru Tsengyed (eight manifestations).

***Rinchen Dzong.*** *PC: Sonam Dendu,* https://www.facebook.com/sorwabhotantravels/

It takes a day to visit all the Dzongs. Pema Dzong and Namkha Dzong are the farthest. Trek to Namkha Dzong is not recommended for frail and acrophobic because of vertical trail and steepness—a single misstep might prove fatal. Nevertheless, view from Namkha Dzong is mind-boggling—it’s worth the risk.

Phugmachen and Sharcho Pelriphug: 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝓓𝓻𝓾𝓹𝓱𝓾

After exploring ins and outs of Singye Dzong, I peregrinated to Roelmoteng: a serene village with a few farmhouses of the nomad. Rolmoter Lhakhang (temple) bucolically faces magnificent waterfall from luxuriant foliage ridge. It is a replica of the Ugyen Heruka temple (ཨྱོན་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ་གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་).

As per Ney-yik (sacred site description): entire surrounding of the Lhakhang is Bae-nay (hidden sacred place) of Ugyen Maha Guru. Therefore, any person who sees, hears and visualises the Lhakhang can cleanse their defilements and get a blessing.

**Cymbal-treasure—hidden inside the rock.**

Pilgrimizing Phugmachen(ཕུག་མ་ཅན) and Sharcho Pelriphug (ཤར་ཕྱོགས་དཔལ་རི་ཕུག) takes eight hours gruelling trek—traversing alpine shrub and meadows; rivers and streams.

Phugmachen is premised in idyllic place—conserving: hermitage and stupas; replicas of pig-head, golden clarinet (གསེར་གྱི་རྒྱ་གླིང་) and Guru’s hat on the wall of the cave. One stupa is a Kudung chorten (memorial stupa) of a yogini Machig Labdrön’s (མ་གཅིག་ལབ་སྒྲོན) son. He was cremated on the hilltop of Singye Dzong, and thereupon, his remains were placed inside the stupa. There is also Drupchu (holy water) at the base of the cave.

**Phugmachen: top most stupa is the Kudung Chorten of Machig Labdrön’s** ***son***.

Sharcho Pelriphug is tucked on the opposite side of the hill on the way to Phugmachen. It is Tsei-druphu (lifespan meditation cave) where Guru meditated. Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal meditated on the stone seat inside the cave. It is believed that praying inside the cave can prolong one’s lifespan.

There is also Zangdopelri (heavenly abode) embedded on the rock and other sacred idols within the premises of Rolmoter Lhakhang.

From Roelmateng, I shinned down to Denchung village, and then to Khoma. I navigated to the sacred cave where Guru secretly meditated for six months (གསང་བ་ཟླ་དྲུག) and other sites at Khoma. The religious sites of Guru extend from Singye Dzong till Khoma. So, pilgrims must conclude—visiting those sites at Khoma after Singye Dzong.

Sangwa-dhdruk and Khoma village.

Treeking to Singye Dzong

Singye Dzong trek starts from Khoma village—the fons et origo of Kishuthara. It is a three-day journey with a two-night halt. Every trekker has to undergo mandatory health checkups at Khoma BHU as the trek is arduous and trekker often suffer from La-duk (Acute Mountain Sickness). A trekker must get route permit from Khoma Gewog Office since the place is near to Bhutan-Tibetan border.

I embarked on my journey in a pickup Bolero from Khoma till Khing Dung (ཁིང་གདུང) with other pilgrims. From there, we packed our luggage on a pony; thus, 21.9 km first-day trek began along the left side of Khoma-chu—tramping through subtropical broadleaf vegetation. It is seven to eight-hour trek till the first-night halt camp at Tsekang (ཚིག་བཀང་). The popular lunch point is at Chang-shing Dung (ལྕང་ཤིང་གདུང་), however, we had our lunch at Nyala Pang (ཉ་ལ་སྤང་) and, halt the night at Denchung (གདན་ཆུང་) village in a hospitable farmhouse. The trekkers can also halt at Khomagang village in case of fatigue, as Denchung and Tsekang are a bit far.

Denchung village

Tsekang

The 13.5 km second-day trek towards Thang Karmo (ཐང་དཀར་མོ) began with a bright sunshine. The chirping birds, fresh air, and lush green forest boosted our stamina to trek for another six hours. We had our lunch at Chuna (ཆུ་གནག)—the winter pastureland of the nomad. Thereafter, we climbed knolls, crossed several streams, and reached Thang Karmo: our second-night halt camp. There are two spacious wooden guest houses built solely for pilgrims, but without solar power or electricity. The telecommunication is also unavailable from Chuna, nevertheless, it is complete bliss sans social media distractions.

Thang Karmo

The third-day trek, which is 16.5 km from Thang-Karmo to Singye Dzong, takes 5 hours—penetrating through the sub-alpine forest. The lunch point is at Doksum (དོག་གསུམ) at the junction of Singye Dzong and Roelmoteng (རོལ་མོ་སྟེང་) route.After trudging via Tachet-Michet (རྟ་ཆད་མི་ཆད) trail, finally, we reached Singye Dzong. We prostrated from Chaktsel gang (ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྒང་) before setting our foot on the sacred place. We camped three days at Singye Dzong and hiked to all the Dzongs, sacred sites including Tsokar-Tsonak (མཚོ་དཀར་དང་མཚོ་གནག), and Terdha Latso (གཏེར་བདག་བླ་མཚོ). It was an adventurous pilgrimage as we hiked from dawn to dusk each day in extremely pleasant weather. I recommend mid-August to mid-September as the ideal time for pilgrimage as the monsoon gets dried and winter is afar. However, by the last week of October, trekking towards lakes seems impassable because of frost and snow.Singye Dzong from Chaktsel gangTsokarTsonakTerdha LatsoThe ridge believed to be 108 stupasAmazing pilgrims

𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐬𝐨 (དུང་མཚོ) 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐚𝐤e

𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐬𝐨 (དུང་མཚོ) 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞.⠀
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𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝙳𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚜𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚙𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚙 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚢 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑 (𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎) 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚔𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚐𝚒’𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚔𝚎. ⠀𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝟸 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙿𝚑𝚊𝚓𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚛𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚜.𝙳𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚑𝚢𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚞. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚑𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚖𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚐𝚐𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚋𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚢.

Shelkar Zar (ཤེལ་དཀར་གཟར)

The waterfall near the Senge Phu in Taktsang is called Shelkar Zar (ཤེལ་དཀར་གཟར). It is called Shelkar Zar because the crystal water descends from the cliff resembling the throne on which Guru Rinpoche transmitted dharma to Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal. There is Khandro’s knees imprint on the middle of the cliff where she received the dharma. Hence the waterfall resembles Guru plucking his crystal bead and bestowing it to Khandro for sanctification; it is named in that sense. ⁣
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As from another saying; the cliff left to Taktsang is a place where Guru transmitted dharma to Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal. Since Guru bestowed his crystal prayer beads to Khandro, thus the name Shelkar Zar.⁣
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The water descending from the cliff is believed to be the holy water of a hundred thousand Dakini (མཁའ་འགྲོ་འབུམ་གྱི་སྒྲུབ་ཆུ). The source is said to be at Bumdrak.⁣

It is further said that His Eminence Late Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche claimed Shelkar Zar Drubchu as sanctified and took a portrait near it.⁣
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Source: ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO SACRED SITES, Paro Dzongkhag, vol. VIII⁣

Singye Dzong སེངྒེ་རྫོང་། (Lion Fortress)

Singye Dzong is located in Khoma Gewog under Lhuntse District, and it falls within the Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary. It is 3800m above sea level. The Dzong stands on the cliff resembling a lion, hence the name Singye Dzong.

Guru Rinpoche’s consort Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal found the Dzong in the 8^th century.

Guru Rinpoche meditated in the cave during his second visit to Bhutan via Tibet and left Kurje (body imprint). Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal also left mystical imprints on the cave after perfecting Vajrakilaya. It is believed that any person who visits Singye Dzong will be liberated once from the hell.

Among the sacred places visited and blessed by Padmasambhava that signifies: body, speech, mind, knowledge, and deed—Singye Dzong represent the deed (ཕྲིན་ལས་ཀྱི་གནས་ཆེན་མོན་ཁ་ནེ་རིང་སེང་གེ་རྫོང་).

Guru also mentioned about 15 different treasures hidden at Singye Dzong in his prophecy (མོན་ཁ་སྣ་རིང་སེང་གེ་རྫོང་གསུམ་ལ༔ མ་ནིང་གཏེར་ཀ་ཕྲ་གཏེར་བཅོ་ལྔ་སྦས༔).

There are eight significant Dzongs embedded on a cliff. These are: Singye Dzong, Tsemo Dzong (རྩེ་མོ་རྫོང་), Rinchen Dzong (རིན་ཆེན་རྫོང་), Gawa Dzong (དགའ་བ་རྫོང་), Dhuelwa Dzong (འདུལ་བ་རྫོང་), Dorji Dzong (རྡོ་རྗེ་རྫོང་), Namkha Dzong (གནམ་ཁ་རྫོང་), and Pema Dzong (པདྨ་རྫོང་). Each Dzong has its respective crematorium in the form of rocks. These Dzongs are believed to be the eight manifestations of Guru Rinpoche.

The Singye Dzong surrounding has mysterious landmarks such as Guru and Khandro’s footprints; rocks representing Rigsum Goenpo (Manjushri, Vajrapani and Avalokitesvara), holy water, natural replica of Manjushri’s sword and scriptures; 108 Vajra treasures and 21 Tara treasures, and the mystical rock below Tse-mo Dzong where Guru confined 108 Ja-chung (Garuda) which tried to cause a catastrophe in the world. It is impossible to mention all those sacred landmarks.

The temple adjacent to Gawa Dzong house sacred treasures discovered by Guru Rinpoche from Singye Dzong Lake. There are five Phurpa (ritual daggers), Chorten (tiny stupas), three statues and a pair of Dorje (vajra). Dorji and statutes are the main treasures of Rolmoter Lhakhang (རོལ་མོ་གཏེར་ལྷ་ཁང་།). Guru Rinpoche discovered statutes from Phugmachin (ཕུག་མ་ཅན) cave.