Chagri Gompa Monastery

The Buddhist monastery of Chagri Dorjeden was built in 1620 by the founder of the Bhutanese states - Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. In the common people it is called the Cherie Monastery. It is now the main center of learning and hermitage for the southern branch of Drukpa Kagyu, one of the most important divisions of the school of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located on a steep hill, 15 kilometers from the city of Thimphu, so it is not so easy to get to it.

According to religious Bhutanese legends, this place was first visited in the XVIII century by Padmasambhava. At the beginning of the XIII century, the Tibetan Lama Phajo Friend Shigpo visited here, who founded the Drukpa Kagyu tradition in Bhutan. Cheri is the first monastery founded by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, he was 27 years old at the time. Shabdrung stayed here for about three years, and often stayed at the monastery throughout his later life. In 1623 he founded the Drukpa Kagyu monastic order in this monastery.