Gangtey Monastery

The Gangteng Monastery, also called the Gangteng Sangngak Chöling སྒང་སྟེང་གསང་སྔགས་ཆོས་གླིང་, was established in 1613 by the first Peling Gyalsé Rinpoche[8][11] or Gangteng Tulku, Rigdzin Pema Tinley (1564–1642), who was the grandson of the great Bhutanese “treasure revealer” Terchen Pema Lingpa (1450–1521). The earliest historical background relevant to this monastery is traced to establishment of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, by Guru Rinpoche, who was instrumental in making Bhutan a Buddhist nation. The Guru, during his visits to the country in the 8th and 9th centuries, had hidden many sacred treasures (called terma) (images and scriptures), to avoid their desecration or destruction during troubled times, at various places in Bhutan to be retrieved in later years by treasure finders, to propagate the teachings of Buddha. These were retrieved at various periods over time and in the 15th century Pema Lingpa, born in 1450, considered an incarnation of Guru Rinpoche, prompted by a revelation of 108 treasure coves in his psychic dream revealed by his Guru Rinpoche. He embarked on the treasure hunt in 1476 when he was 25 years of age. He was successful in locating many treasures of images and scriptures related to Buddhism throughout Bhutan, which resulted in establishing many monasteries throughout Bhutan, and Buddhism took firm roots in the country. Consequently, Pema Lingpa came to be known as the “King Terton”, a revered saint and teacher. The Terton, came on a visit to the Phobjikha Valley as a saint to teach Buddhist precepts to the people and also to bless them. During this visit, after looking at the impressive mountains that surrounded the valley he had foretold that one of his descendants would build a monastery or gonpa on the Gangten (meaning top of the mountain) and make it famous as the seat of the Peling tradition. This prediction fructified when a monastery was built by his grand son Gyalse Pema Thinley in 1613, and the spur of the mountain was given the name, the Gangteng Sang Nga Choling (meaning: “summit for the teaching of the dharma”). He became the first Trulku (spiritual head of the monastery or gonpa) of the monastery. It was initially built as a Lhakhang, a small village monastery, which was later expanded by his son Tenzing Legpai Dhendup (1645–1726), who succeeded him as the second Trulku. It was built like a Dzong (fortress).[4][8][12] The present Wangchuk Dynasty, which rules Bhutan, are descendants of Pema Lingpa.[13]

From 2002–2008, the Monastery has been completely restored under the present Gangteng Tulku, H.E. Rigdzin Kunzang Pema Namgyal (b. 1955).[6]

The rebuilt monastery was consecrated by the present incarnation of Pema Lingpa on the October 10, 2008, graced by the fourth King of Bhutan. Gangteng Sang-ngak Chöling, as now restored, retains its original glory and is stated to be the resurgence of the Peling Tradition. Hence, the restoration of the Lhakhang and the resurgence of the Peling Tradition also symbolises the aura of Bhutan’s Monarchy.”[13][14]

In the context of the 1864–65 battle fought between the British Army and the Bhutanese Army at Deothang in Bhutan, it is mentioned that the hands of the British military officer that was severed in the battle have been “preserved in the sanctum sanctorum of the Gangteng Gonpa.”[15]

‘Successive Throne Holders of Gangteng Monastery’ starting with Gyalsé Pema Thinley to the present Kunzang Rigdzin Pema Namgyal, are listed below.[23]

1. Gyalsé Pema Thinley (རྒྱལ་སྲས་པདྨ་ཕྲིན་ལས) — (1564–1642). He was the grand son of the famous Tarton Pema Lingpa. He built the Gonpa in 1613 and was the first Trilku or religious leader of the monastery.[24]
2. Tenzin Legpé Döndrup (བསྟན་འཛིན་ལེགས་པའི་དོན་གྲུབ) — (1645–1727). He succeeded Gyalsé Pema Thinley, as the second Trilku and was responsible for enlarging the monastery substantially. He built it when he was 59 years old. It was built aesthetically like a Dzong or fortress with help of divine forces, as also local people.[25]
3. Kunzang Thinley Namgyal (ཀུན་བཟང་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (1727–1758). He was made the third Trilku when he was very young and he was very accomplished in the canonical texts (Kanjur), Nyingma Lineage Teachings (Nyingma Gyudbum). However, he died at an young age of 32.[26]
4. Tenzin Sizhi Namgyal (བསྟན་འཛིན་སྲིད་ཞི་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (1759–1790). He was the fourth Trilku. He was proficient in all the rituals, teachings and dances of the Palden Drukpa tradition, which are observed even now at the Gangteng Gönpa. He died at an young age of 31.[27]
5. Ugyen Gelek Namgyal (ཨོ་རྒྱན་དགེ་ལེགས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (1791–1840). As the fifth Trilku, he acquired complete knowledge of the sutras, tantra and grammar from the 6th Peling Sungtrul who was then a renowned master. He taught the Buddha Dharma extensively to a large group of monks. He died at the age of 49.[27]
6. Tenpai Nyima (བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ) — (1838–1874). He was the sixth Trilku and he belonged to Dungkar Chöje family while his younger brother belonged to the lineage of the Bönbi Chöje of Mangde in Trongsa. He perfected several dance forms for the Dungkar Tsechu dance festival, which is even now linked to Dungkar Chöje. He was also instrumental in finding religious treasures in eastern Bhutan. He introduced many innovations in the annual tradition of performing Tsechu rituals and mask dances at the Gangteng Gönpa.[28]
7. Tenpai Nyinjé (བསྟན་པའི་ཉིན་བྱེད) — (1875–1905). He became the seventh Trulku of the Gonpa at an young age and was tutored in advance Buddhist scriptures by masters in the field. He diverted all the gifts and donations he received for improving the monastery. He was responsible for fixing a gilded spire on the central tower (Utse) of the monastery. He was also responsible for adding many treasures and freshly painted frescoes to the Gonpa. When the monastery was damaged by an earthquake, he and his brothers tirelessly and with all their resources restored the Gonpa to a better state. He died at an young age of 30.[29]
8. Ugyen Thinley Dorji (ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེ) — (1906–1949). He was the son of Thimphu Dzongpon Kunzang Thinley and belonged to the Peling and the Nyö lineages. He was enthroned as the eight Trulku of the Gonpa at a young age. He introduced the practice of wearing the national dress gho among his disciples. He succeeded his father as the Thimphu Dzongpon. During this tenure, he constrcuted the Guru Lhakhang in Thimphu. He died in 1949 at Wangdue Phodrong. However, his body was cremated in Gangteng Gonpa.[30]
9. Kunzang Rigdzin Pema Namgyal (རིག་འཛིན་པདྨ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (b. 1955). He is the ninth Trilku of the Gonpa. He has royal lineage; his father belonged to the Bönbi Chöje: while his mother belonged to the Tibetan King Trisong Deutsen’s lineage. He is western educated and stated to be the reincarnation of the mind of Pema Lingpa. His specialization and lineage are also in the spiritual orders of the Nyingma and Kargyu traditions. In addition to Gangteng Monastery, he is in charge of 35 other monasteries, temples, hermitages and universities in Bhutan. A study and meditation centre for women and girls, the first of its kind in Bhutan, is also to his credit. He has disciples throughout the Himalayan countries, India, Europe, North America, Asia and Africa