Lhuentse Dzong is a

dzong Dzong architecture is used for dzongs, a distinctive type of fortified monastery ( dz, རྫོང, , ) architecture found mainly in Bhutan and Tibet. The architecture is massive in style with towering exterior walls surrounding a complex of cou ...

and

Buddhist monastery Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

Lhuentse District Lhuntse District (Dzongkha: ལྷུན་རྩེ་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Lhun-rtse rdzong-khag''; previously "Lhuntshi") is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) comprising Bhutan. It consists of 2506 households. Located in the nor ...

in eastern

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

. It lies on the eastern side of the

Kuri Chhu The Kuri Chhu, also known as the Lhozhag Xung Qu (tib. lho brag gzhung chu) or Norbu Lag Qu (tib. nor bu lag chu), is a major river of eastern Bhutan, that has formed a scenic valley with high peaks and steep hills. Kuri Chhu is a tributary of th ...

and is perched on a spur at the end of a narrow valley. The Dzong was initially known as ''Kurtoe'' in the then-isolated Lhuentse District. It is the ancestral home of the

House of Wangchuck The Wangchuck dynasty () have held the hereditary position of Druk Gyalpo ("Dragon King") of Bhutan since 1907. Prior to reunification, the Wangchuck family had governed the district of Trongsa as descendants of Dungkar Choji. They eventually ov ...

( ''Dasho'' Jigme Namgyal was born there in 1825). While its geographic coordinates are in eastern Bhutan, its cultural roots are central Bhutanese. This was because before road traffic connected it to

Mongar Mongar (Dzongkha: མོང་སྒར) is a town and the seat of Mongar District in eastern Bhutan. it had a population of 3502. Mongar is on the road from Thimphu to Trashigang. It is one of the oldest educational hubs of the country. It ha ...

, the approach was through a trade route crossing Rodang Pass.

Topography

The Dzong is located in the Kuri Chhu valley, which is part of the Lhuntse district. The

is the major river that has formed the scenic valley with high peaks and steep hills. Kuri Chhu is a tributary of the Manas River system, which is the largest river of Bhutan and a major tributary of the

Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...

that drains most of Eastern Bhutan. The road from Mongar to Lheuntse Dzong is a 3 hours drive over a distance of and from its junction at Gangola. The approach to this Dzong is over a flag-stone-paved path over the steep cliffs.

History

According to one legend, Khedrup Kuenga Wangpo, son of

Tertön Tertön () is a term within Tibetan Buddhism meaning a person who is a discoverer of ancient hidden texts or '' terma''. Many tertöns are considered to be incarnations of the twenty five main disciples of Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), who foresaw ...

Pema Lingpa Pema Lingpa or Padma Lingpa (, 1450–1521) was a Bhutanese saint and siddha of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is considered a ''terchen'' or "preeminent tertön" (, discoverer of spiritual treasures) and is considered to be foremost ...

was assigned to find a ridge resembling the trunk of an elephant. He found one opposite Baeyul Khenpajong and mediated there. This location came to be known as Kurtoe Lhuentse Phodrang. Student monks

The monastery was originally established by

's son Kuenga Wanpo in 1543, although it wasn't until 1654 that the ''

Trongsa penlop Penlop of Trongsa (Dzongkha: ཀྲོང་གསར་དཔོན་སློབ་; Wylie: ''Krong-gsar dpon-slob''), also called Chhoetse Penlop (Dzongkha: ཆོས་རྩེ་དཔོན་སློབ་; Wylie: ''Chos-rtse dpon-slob ...

'' (governor), Minjur Tenpa, built a formal dzong here after winning a battle and named it Lhuentse Rinchentse. The dzong was later restored in 1962 and again between 1972 and 1974. The historic importance of Lhuntse Dzongkhag is on account of its established link as the ancestral home of the

Wangchuck Dynasty The Wangchuck dynasty () have held the hereditary position of Druk Gyalpo ("Dragon King") of Bhutan since 1907. Prior to reunification, the Wangchuck family had governed the district of Trongsa as descendants of Dungkar Choji. They eventually o ...

. Lhuentse town is the administrative capital of Lhuentse District, besides the Lhuentse Dzong. At present 100 monks reside here.

Architecture

The dzong contains five temples, three of which are in the central tower and are dedicated to

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...

. The dzong also contains a Gonkhang, which is dedicated to

Mahākāla Mahākāla is a deity common to Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism. In Buddhism, Mahākāla is regarded as the sacred '' Dharmapāla'' ("Protector of the Dharma"), while in Hinduism, Mahākāla is a fierce manifestation of the Hindu god Shiva and th ...

, and a temple dedicated to Amitāyus, the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

of Infinite Life. The ground floor also has a temple dedicated to

Avalokiteśvara In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (Sanskrit: अवलोकितेश्वर, IPA: ) is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He has 108 avatars, one notable avatar being Padmapāṇi (lotus bearer). He is variably depicted, ...

. The ''Kunre'', the assembly hall for the

monks A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...

, is located on the upper floor. ;2009 earthquake damage The dzong has suffered serious damage during an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the

Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

that hit eastern Bhutan on Monday, 21 September 2009. Many other monasteries in the region also suffered serious damage.

Other attractions

Khoma village, which is an hour walk from the main road to Lhuntse Dzong is famous for its intricate woven cloth made of silk called ''Kishu Thara''. Other well known pilgrimage sites of Padmasambhava are

Singye Dzong Singye Dzong is a town in Luentse District in eastern Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, be ...

, the

beyul According to the beliefs of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul () are hidden valleys often encompassing hundreds of square kilometers, which Padmasambhava blessed as refuges. Tertöns may reveal them from terma at specific and appropr ...

Khenpajong () and Phunying Pass. Singye Dzong was founded by

Yeshe Tsogyal Yeshe Tsogyal (c. 757 or 777 – 817 CE) , also known as "Victorious Ocean of Knowledge", "Knowledge Lake Empress" (, ཡེ་ཤེས་མཚོ་རྒྱལ), or by her Sanskrit name ''Jñānasāgara'' "Knowledge Ocean", or by her clan na ...

and visited by Padmasambhava on his second visit to Bhutan, which is a three-day trek from Khoma. ;Weaving The weaving handicraft looms loom large in households here and the handlooms produced are very famous. This household industry is dominated by women folks who weave different types of textiles with intricate designs. The unique weaving activities involve embroidery, basket-making and ''kushutara'' (brocade dress). Textiles products of Lhuntse are stated to be the best in the country.

References

External links

coordinates of Lhunshi now known as Lhuentse
{{Authority control Dzongs in Bhutan Buddhist monasteries in Bhutan Nyingma monasteries and temples 1543 establishments in Asia Religious buildings and structures completed in 1654 Tibetan Buddhism in Bhutan