Kurjey Lhakhang

སྐུ་རྗེས་ ཡང་ན་ གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་གི་ ཞབས་རྗེས་

Sacred Buddhist monastery and pilgrimage site built around an 8th-century cave where a spiritual leader is said to have left a body imprint. It serves as the final resting place for the first three kings of the country. Read more…

Christopher J. Fynn / cc-by-sa-4.0

Prof Ranga Sai / cc-by-sa-4.0

Christopher J. Fynn / cc-by-sa-3.0

Gerd Eichmann / cc-by-sa-4.0

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Kurjey Lhakhang is a significant Buddhist monastery and pilgrimage site centered around a cave where Padmasambhava (also known as Guru Rinpoche) meditated in the 8th century. It is highly revered for housing a rock that is said to contain the sacred body imprint of Guru Rinpoche, who is credited with introducing Buddhism to Bhutan. Historical accounts state the imprint was left after the spiritual leader subdued a demon at this location.

The monastery complex also serves as the burial site and final resting place for the first three Kings of Bhutan. This historical significance makes it one of the most important religious and royal landmarks in the country, functioning as both a tomb and a temple.

The site is an active place of worship and monastery. It consists of multiple structures and temples that have been built around the original meditation cave, preserving the 8th-century spiritual heritage associated with the origins of Bhutanese Buddhism.