Kurjey Tshechu
Festival

The Story of Kurjey

How Guru Rinpoche Came to Bumthang

In the 8th century, the king of Bumthang — known as Sindhu Raja or Sendha Gyelpo — fell gravely ill after a conflict with a neighbouring ruler led to the death of his son and the desecration of the local guardian deity Shelging Karpo. The offended deity retaliated by stealing the king’s life force, plunging him toward death. With no local shaman able to help, the king’s attendants made a desperate journey to Nepal to ask Guru Rinpoche — the great Indian tantric master then teaching in the Kathmandu Valley — to come to Bumthang.

Guru Rinpoche entered Bhutan through Nabji Korphu in Trongsa and arrived in Bumthang. He identified Shelging Karpo as the source of the king’s illness and entered the cave in the red rock cliff of the Choekhor Valley to meditate. For three months, Guru Rinpoche engaged in powerful tantric practice within the cave, finally emerging in the form of a Garuda — the divine bird — to subdue Shelging Karpo, who manifested as a snow lion. The life force was returned, the king recovered and converted to Buddhism, and Guru Rinpoche left the physical impression of his body in the rock of the cave.

Shelging Karpo, once subdued, was not destroyed but transformed. The deity was converted to Buddhism and bound by oath as a protector of the Dharma. Today Shelging Karpo is revered as the Local Deity of Kurjey Lhakhang and is propitiated regularly by monks and pilgrims. The encounter is depicted in a carving below the eaves of the oldest temple: a garuda above, a snow lion below — frozen at the moment of Guru Rinpoche’s victory.

The Three Temples of Kurjey Lhakhang

The Kurjey Lhakhang complex consists of three temples side by side, surrounded by a wall of 108 chortens, facing south onto the Bumthang Chhu river and the valley beyond.

Guru Lhakhang (built 1652) is the oldest and most sacred of the three. It was constructed on the very rock face where Guru Rinpoche meditated, by Mingyur Tenpa while he served as Trongsa Penlop — before he became the third Desi (regent) of Bhutan. The lower floor houses the Sangay Lhakhang, which contains a narrow rock passage that pilgrims crawl through for the cleansing of sins — one of only two such passages in Bhutan. The upper floor is the holiest space in the complex, containing 1,000 small statues of Guru Rinpoche along the left wall, a central statue of Guru Rinpoche flanked by his eight manifestations, and — hidden behind the statues — the actual cave where the body imprint remains in the rock.

Sampa Lhundrup Lhakhang (built 1900) was constructed by the first King of Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuck, on the advice of the great Nyingma lama Rigzin Khamsum Yondrol. It houses a monumental statue of Guru Rinpoche.

Ka Gon Phor Sum Lhakhang was consecrated in June 1990 by the revered Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, one of the most celebrated Nyingma masters of the 20th century. It was built by Ashi Kesang, queen of the third King of Bhutan.

The entire complex is also the final resting place of the cremated remains of the first three Kings of Bhutan, whose royal chortens are enshrined within the grounds. No other site in Bhutan holds both the founding sacred moment of Bhutanese Buddhism and the remains of the kingdom’s first monarchs.

What to Expect at the Kurjey Tshechu

The Kurjey Tshechu is a single-day festival, one of the shorter major Tshechus in Bhutan. It is held in the open courtyard of the complex, with the three temples forming the backdrop and the 108-chorten wall enclosing the space. The Cham dances are performed by the monks of Kurjey and nearby monasteries. The Guru Tshengye Cham — the Dance of the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche — is always performed, given the direct connection between the site and Guru Rinpoche’s eight forms. The Thongdrel depicting Guru Rinpoche and his eight manifestations is unfurled at dawn, displayed briefly, and then returned to storage before direct sunlight reaches it.

After the formal Cham programme, pilgrims enter the three temples to receive blessings, circumambulate the complex, and press their foreheads against the rock imprints inside the Guru Lhakhang. The crawl passage in the Sangay Lhakhang lower floor is a mandatory stop for most devout pilgrims. The atmosphere is intimate and profoundly devotional — this is one of the sites where Bhutanese people feel most viscerally close to the source of their faith.

Things to Do in Bumthang Around the Kurjey Tshechu

• Nimalung Tshechu — held two days before the Kurjey Tshechu at Nimalung Monastery in the Chumey Valley. Both can be attended in a single Bumthang visit — one of the finest festival pairings available anywhere in Bhutan.
• Jambay Lhakhang — one of Bhutan’s oldest temples, built in the 7th century by Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo, a 5-minute drive from Kurjey. The festival at Jambay — the Jambay Lhakhang Drup — is held in October/November.
• Tamshing Lhakhang — founded by Terton Pema Lingpa in 1501. Original 500-year-old murals and Pema Lingpa’s chain mail coat are inside. A short drive from Kurjey.
• Mebar Tsho (The Burning Lake) — the sacred gorge in the Tang Valley where Pema Lingpa retrieved treasure texts from the water by diving in with a flaming torch. About 45 minutes from Kurjey.
• Chakhar Lhakhang — the Iron Castle of Sindhu Raja himself, 2.5km from Kurjey. The original fortification of the king that Guru Rinpoche came to save. A remarkable historical footnote made tangible.