The Tango Monastery is a
Buddhist
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 ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
located to the north of the capital city of
Thimphu
Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient ...
in
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 ...
, near
Cheri Mountain. It was founded by Phajo Drugom Zhigpo (1184? - 1251?) in the 13th century and built in its present form by
Tenzin Rabgye, the 4th Temporal Ruler in 1688.
In 1616, the
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
an lama
Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal
Ngawang Namgyal (later granted the honorific Zhabdrung Rinpoche, approximately "at whose feet one submits") (; alternate spellings include ''Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel''; 1594–1651) and known colloquially as The Bearded Lama, was a Tibetan Buddh ...
meditated in its cave. The self-emanated form of the wrathful Hayagriva is deified in the monastery. It belongs to the
Drukpa Kagyu
The Drukpa Kagyu (), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources, School
of
Buddhism
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 ...
in Bhutan.
Etymology
The word 'Tango' in
Bhutanese language means “horse head”. This name conforms to the main deity
Hayagriva
Hayagriva, also spelled Hayagreeva ( sa, हयग्रीव IAST , ), is a Hindu deity, the horse-headed avatar of Vishnu. The purpose of this incarnation was to slay a danava also named Hayagriva (A descendant of Kashyapa and Danu), who ...
(local name ''Tandin'') deified in the monastery.
[
]
Legend and tribute
According to local legend, the location of this monastery is the holy place where Avalokiteshvara revealed himself as "the self-emanated form of the Wrathful Hayagriva". The location had been prophesied in Tibet. The acclamation of the divine nature of this place was performed by Ngawang Tenzin.
History
According to a local legend Phajo Drugom Zhigpo propounder of the teachings of Dodeyna who was on a visit to this place during his teaching mission heard the neighing of a horse coming from the direction of the Tango. Concurrently, he witnessed the cliff in the form of god Tandin (horse head or ''Hayagriva'') engulfed in flames. The deity appearing before Zhigpo prophesied that the place was meant to build a monastery for meditation. The prophecy also mentioned that Zhigpo would marry the Dakini
A ḍākinī ( sa, डाकिनी; ; mn, хандарма; ; alternatively 荼枳尼, ; 荼吉尼, ; or 吒枳尼, ; Japanese: 荼枳尼 / 吒枳尼 / 荼吉尼, ''dakini'') is a type of female spirit, goddess, or demon in Hinduism and Bud ...
, Khando Sonam Peldon and establish the Drukpa Kagyu School of Buddhism in Bhutan.[
The earliest history traced to this location is when ]Guru Rinpoche
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 ...
on a visit to the place in the 8th century had identified the place as representing the Hayagriva or horse head.[ It was only in 1222 that the place again got its recognition when ]Phajo Drugom Zhigpo Phajo Drugom Shigpo () 184−1251 / 1208−1275was a Tibetan Buddhist particularly important in the early spread of the Drukpa school to Bhutan where he is revered as an emanation of Avalokiteśvara. His descendants played a significant role in t ...
, propounder of the Drukpa Kagyu School of Buddhism, witnessed the cliff in the form of god Tandin (horse head) or Hayagriva.
Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal migrated from Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
to Bhutan in 1616 at the age of 23 not only at the request of Pal Yeshay Genpo but also due to a conflict with Deb Tsangpa of Tibet; Namgyel belonged to a respectable lineage of Tsangpa Jarey in Tibet and had been christened by the name of ''Drukpa Rinpochhe Ngawang Tenzin Nampar Gyelwa Jigme Drak Pai Dey'' and had attained name and fame from a young age as an enlightened dharma preacher. When he travelled in Bhutan on a preaching mission he was also attacked by Tibetan army (sent by his enemy Deb Tsangpa). However, by virtue of his skills in the field of tantric art he subdued his enemies, and finally went into meditation in the caves of the Tango Monastery; the monastery had been offered to him by the Tshewang Tenzing of Dorden (now Dodena). He deeply meditated and performed tantric ritual of Gempo in the cave of Tango. With these spiritual powers, Zhabdrung caused the decimation of the dynasty of Deb Tsangpa of Tibet. Consequently, he celebrated this victory by writing of his achievements by composing the “Nga Chudugma or My sixteen Accomplishments”.[
Following his victory, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal adopted the title of Dujom Dorjee, consolidated his powers and issued sixteen tenets. He renamed the cave monastery as ''Duduel Phug'' and then went back to the cave for further meditation. However, the cave was attacked by his enemies using tantric powers. They had destroyed the cliff of the caves, which resulted in blocking of the cave by a huge boulder (size of a ]yak
The domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox or hairy cattle, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau, Kachin Sta ...
), which by providence narrowly missed killing the Namgyal, as it is said “the boulder missed Zamdrung’s head by an inch”.[ His followers considered Zamdrung’s survival as a miracle. During this period Namgyals’ father Tenpai Nima had died and Namgyal brought his father’s body to the cave and cremated it in the cave of the horse head cliff, in Tango. Thereafter, in 1620, Namgyal built the Chari monastery and the Duduel Chorten in memory of his father; the building was constructed by skilled carpenters brought from ]Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
.[
Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye son of Tshewang Tenzin and Damchoe Tenzima (daughter of the Lama of Chang Gangkha) born in 1638 AD, received religious instructions from a very young age in the Drukpa Kargyud tradition from Shabdrung and his teacher Damchoe Gyeltshe and was very proficient in the tradition when he ascended the throne of Desi at the age of 31. He also became the 4th Desi at the age of 43. As the 4th Temporal Ruler he creditably ruled the country in accordance with set spiritual and temporal laws.][ The Tango Monastery was rebuilt by him in its present form in 1688/1689. The monastery built with 12 corners has the 3-storey gallery central tower. It was further extended in the 18th and 19th centuries.][ In the late 19th century, Shabdrung Jigmre Choegyal had a golden roof installed.] In 1966 AD, the 64th rJe Khenpo Jamyang Yeshey Sengyel along with Her Royal Highness the Grandmother Ashi Phuntshog Chodon also restarted the Shaydra School of Buddhist Studies
Buddhist studies, also known as Buddhology, is the academic study of Buddhism. The term ''Buddhology'' was coined in the early 20th century by the Unitarianism, Unitarian minister Joseph Estlin Carpenter to mean the "study of Buddhahood, the natur ...
. In 1977 AD, Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Kesang Wangchuck refurbished the monastery into a very elegant structure vis-a-vis the original. The monastery underwent restoration again in the mid 1990s and is currently the residence of the 7th Tri Rinpoche, a young incarnation of Tenzin Rabgye. Today it is run as an upper-education level monastic school.[
]
Architecture
Tango Monastery is built in the 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 ...
fashion, and has a characteristic curved (semi-circular) outside wall and prominent main tower with recesses. It covers the caves where originally meditation and miracles were performed by saints from the 12th century onwards. Behind the series of prayer wheel
A prayer wheel is a cylindrical wheel () on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone, leather, or coarse cotton, widely used in Tibet and areas where Tibetan culture is predominant.
Traditionally, a mantra is written in Ranjana script or Tibeta ...
s are engraved slates. Inside the courtyard is a gallery, illustrating the leaders of the Drukpa Kagyupa lineage.
;Caves
The caves, the original place, before the monastery structure as it exists now was built, is where the holy saints meditated from the 12th century onwards. The rock face identified as the 'Horse head' or 'Hayagriva' is integral to the rock setting of the caves. The caves are formed at two levels – the lower and upper caves with a self formed secret central passage. The central cavern is proclaimed as the “cavern of a dakini
A ḍākinī ( sa, डाकिनी; ; mn, хандарма; ; alternatively 荼枳尼, ; 荼吉尼, ; or 吒枳尼, ; Japanese: 荼枳尼 / 吒枳尼 / 荼吉尼, ''dakini'') is a type of female spirit, goddess, or demon in Hinduism and Bud ...
containing triangular red and black colours and a natural divine mansion”.[
The rock faces at different levels exhibit self-manifest figures of the ]sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
, the moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
and of the demon ''Matramrutra''. Other self emanated divine forms identified within the caves consist of: the ''Pal-khorlo-dompa'' (Sri Cakrasambhara gods seen even now); a long cavernous passage in the basement that makes a distinction between the good and the evil while manoeuvring through it; the projecting rock face in the form of Hayagriva directly facing the valley denoting ''Abhicarya'' in ferocious shapes; a temple of Hayagriva at the lower level; crystal images of tutelary deities; a three-faced Hayagriva (discovered by Ngawang Tenzin); a whip containing combined prayers; a stone slab with foot print of a dakini (the youngest daughter of Ngawang Tenzin); a temple of the four handed Mahakala
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 ...
at the upper cave created by the Shabdrung, a hazardous cave at the bottom – a fit place for hermits; and a large sandalwood
Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...
tree, considered as walking stick that was planted by Phajo Drukgom with the prophecy that "This will be the centre from which the Drukpa Kargyud doctrine will spread".[ There is ]chorten
A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In Buddhism, circumamb ...
near the cypress trees where Khando Sonam Peldon died. All her belongings are enshrined in the chorten. A Tandin Nye, a temple built by Phajo after his meditation. is also located here.[
;Monastery/Temple
]
The 12-cornered monastery was built under the direction of the Gyalse Tenzin Rabgyein in a short span of two months. Basically the monastery has six temples namely, the Trulku lhakhang, the Longku lhakhang, the Choeku lhakhang, the Guru lhakhang, the Namsey Lhakhang and the Gonkhang (inner chapel dedicated to a deity).[
On the ground floor in the Tulku lhakhang, is the temple of Trulku where the main deity is of Buddha made in gold and copper. Buddha statue is thrice the height of a man. The sculptor of this statue was the renowned Panchen Deva of Nepal. Flanking the main deity are a clay Buddha Dipankara cast in medicinal metals and a statue of ]Maitreya
Maitreya (Sanskrit: ) or Metteyya (Pali: ), also Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha, is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. As the 5th and final Buddha of the current kalpa, Maitreya's teachings will be aimed at ...
(double the height of a man). Life-size statues of the 8 chief spiritual sons of the Buddha (the Jang Sem Nye Wai Say Chen Gyad (Jamyang), Chador
A chādor (Persian, ur, چادر, lit=tent), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of Ira ...
, Chenrizig (Avaloketeshvara), Namkhai Nyingpo ( Akashagarba), Dripa Namsel, Saye Nyingpo, Jamba and Jampel Zhenu Jurpa) are also located here. These statues are credited to be the work of craftsmen Trulku Dzing and Druk Chophel. Other objects of veneration in the monastery are a stone with a clear footprint of Jetsuen Tenzinma, daughter of Ngawang Tenzin, and also stone impressions of riding horses, goats, and sheep. A golden key discovered by Ngawang Tenzin, in the shape of a horse-head is much revered. Another adjoining temple, the Gonkhang, is dedicated to the four handed Mahakala (Pel Yeshey Gonpo, the protective deity) temple holding a skull in one hand; the skull is said to be that of the Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
an King Thrisong Detsan."[
On the second floor, the statue of Avalokiteshvara – the Buddha of compassion – made (by Panchen Deva of Nepal) of gold and copper is installed in the Longku lhakhang. Also seen on this floor are the temple of Guru Rinpoche and the Namse palace.][ There is also the Namsey lhakhang where the statue of Namsey (Vaisravana – the god of wealth) is deified.][
On the third floor, there are temples of Dharmakaya and a gold and copper statue of ]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 ...
Amitayus (made by Panchen Deva). Buddha image is flanked by a statue of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and a life-size clay figure, made with medicinal metals, of Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye. The bedroom of Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye is located to the right of the temples. Central to this room is an image of Guru Rinpoche
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 ...
(who appeared in Tenzin Rabgye's vision). Other object seen here includes the Kargyud Serthreng. Other images are made with medicinal metals and all images here are credited to Trulku Dzing, the sculptor. A set of paintings seen on the walls here are weeping images. The depiction of weeping is an expression of sorrow at the demise of Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye, at the age of 59 years. There is also self-made image of Trulku Jampel Yamtsho. Wall paintings are seen on all the three floors of the monastery.[
There is a natural fountain in the middle of the courtyard opposite to the central tower. A chaitya known as Jangchub Chorten or Kudung Chorten, built with the ashes of Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye is located between the Dzong and the monastery.][
]
Festival
The Yarney ('Yar' means “Summer” and 'Ney' means “To stay”) represents monks' summer retreat time and is an important annual festival that is held in this monastery. Initiated since 1967, the festival starts from the 15th day of the 6th month of the 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 ...
ese calendar and concludes on the 30th day of the 7th month, which corresponds to the month of August/September in the Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
. During this period, which lasts for one-and-a-half-months, the monks observe special vows and the strictest monastic disciplines. The observances by the monks are in the form of their wearing ceremonial yellow robes, do elaborate chants of prayers before and after eating (eating meals from begging bowls), desist taking the afternoon meal, do not leave the precincts of the monastery, and not involve in any kind of entertainment on holidays; such observances are deemed to accumulate great merits. During this period, common people make food offerings to the monks.
References
{{Buddhist monasteries in Bhutan
12th-century Buddhist temples
Drukpa Kagyu monasteries and temples in Bhutan
Tibetan Buddhism in Bhutan