KUNZANG DRA I BUMTHANG I BHUTAN I ཀུན་བཟང་བྲག

Описание: Video dated 16th May 2012

Kunzangdra Monastery (ཀུན་བཟང་བྲག) is located on the cliff opposite of the Tang Valley. It was founded by Pemalingpa in 1488 and is one of his residences. It takes one and a half hours to reach there by foot.It is one of the sites related to Pema Lingpa the renowned Terton (Treasure Discoverer) who is attributed to have founded the monastery. Apart from Pema Lingpa’s living quarters which are now the gonkhang, the temple of the protective deity Gonpo Maning, the monastery consists of four temples: the main temple with a wooden gallery contains images of Pema Lingpa, Guru Rinpoche and Namkhai Nyingpo, the last two attributed to Pema Lingpa himself; the Wangkhang, in which the principal statue is Avalokiteshvara with a thousand eyes and a thousand hands made by Pema Lingpa himself; Woezerphug, the meditation cave of Pema Lingpa’s son, Thugse Dawa Gyeltsen (1499–1586) with a holy spring (grubchu) supposed to cure epilepsy and stroke; and Higher up from the main buildings is the Khandroma Lhakhang, which contains a gilded copper statue of Pema Lingpa and a copy of the prajanaparamita sutra. It is built at the place where Yeshe Tshogyel, the enlighted consort of Guru has meditated. Nearby is a wooden post embued with the life force of thousands of dakinis, and a chorten built by Thugse Dawa Gyeltsen.
Below the main temple is Pama Lingpa’s meditation cave with a life like statue of himself and his gilded footprint, and besides a stone throne.
Though a truly exceptional craftsman, Pema Lingpa is believed to have later given up the craft of blacksmithing and as a symbolic gesture of commitment, imprinted his anvil with a footmark. The gilded footprint is said to be that very anvil. As for the statue, it is the ‘Nga Drama’ or ‘Just like Me’ statue and the best known statue crafted by Pema Lingpa.

It is one of the places where Guru Rinpoche meditated, as did his disciple Namkhe Nyingpo, and a little temple is said to have been established there at the end of the eighth century. However, the present site was founded in 1488 by the saint Pema Lingpa who was born close by at Chel, and he made it one of his residences.