Tango and Cheri Monastery – Reincarnation of the Soul
In my previous post, I have shared the experiences of my first Bhutan outing to Taktsang Monastery, and now I am going to share my experience of the second one. And this time also, we were on our way to two famous monasteries of Bhutan, Tango, and Cheri monastery. Bhutan, locally known as Druk Yul is not only a place of heavenly natural beauty, but it is also a place of sacred monasteries. Keeping in mind this truth, we opt for a place where we could find both natural beauty and monastery.
Getting there
This time not with my local colleagues, one of our local friends, our long-time car driver Zambe accompanied us in this expedition to the Tango monastery.
We packed sandwiches, chocolates, fruit juice and lots of dry foods for lunch and set out to the monastery early in the morning from Thimpu. After driving for nearly forty minutes, we reached at the base of Cheri Hill; on its two cliffs the two monasteries were situated.
The Place
We got out from the car and started walking towards the hill; of course, Zambe was leading us.
After getting out of the car, we first found a foot bridge made of wood over a stream. The structure of the bridge was uncommon to me. There were some scripts written on the roof of the bridge in Tibetan language. We stand on the bridge for a while and enjoy the beauty of the surrounding nature.
There were tons of surprises waiting for us. As soon as we crossed the bridge, we were mesmerized by the freshness and calmness of the nature there. The place was enclosed by green trees and mountains that were soothing for our eyes and between the mountains a little stream was dancing down the hill. The only sound of the place was from that stream, flowing over the rocks.
The music of the water was enchanting and soon cast its spell on us. The outer world was evaporated like a bubble of water from our mind and we were submerged in the nature there.
Slowly we were moving by the side of that stream. At one point, we crossed the stream through a log; as that was the lone way to cross the river there. The opposite side was equally beautiful.
We saw some Buddhist Stupas there. The places were covered with colorful pieces of clothes in order to drive away the bad spirit from there.
We had our lunches there on the bank of the river and clicked some snaps.
The Tango and Cheri monastery was shining in the sunlight on the cliffs.
After spending all the day there in the laps of nature, we started our journey back to Thimpu in the afternoon.
Tango monastery
Tango monastery was 14 KM away from Thimpu and was founded by Lama Gyalwa Lhanampa in 13th century. As told by the local legend, this location is the holy place where Avalokiteshvara exposed himself as “the self-emanated form of the Wrathful Hayagriva”.
Cheri Monastery
Cheri Monastery was built in 1620 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. The monastery is a prime teaching and retreat center of the Southern Drukpa Kagyu sector at present. It serves as the monastic school for Buddhist Philosophy, metaphysics, mathematics studies.