Thangbi Mani (Mewang), often popularly known as the Thangbi Mewang, is a 4-day sacred fire-blessing festival held in the courtyard of Thangbi Lhakhang in Bumthang. It is held every year from the 14th to the 17th of the eighth month of the Bhutanese calendar to invoke protection, purify negativity, and bless the community.
Jakar Dzong, also known as Jakar Yugyal Dzong, the ‘Fortress of White Bird’, was founded by Yongzin Ngagi Wangchuk, the great-grandfather of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, in 1549. It sits on a foretold hill above Jakar Town in the Chamkhar Valley of Bumthang Dzongkhag.
Tamzhing Lhakhang, meaning the “temple of good message”, originally known as Tamshing Lhendup Chholing, is a small single-story temple founded by Pema Lingpa in 1501 at an elevation of 2,584 meters.
Jambay Lhakhang is a one-story Temple of Maitreya founded by the 33rd Tibetan King, Songtsen Gampo, in 659 CE. It is one of the oldest temples in Bhutan, built as part of the 108 temples constructed on a single day to pin down an ogress to earth that was obstructing the spread of Buddhism.
Kurje Drupchhu is a holy spring water created by Guru Rinpoche in the 8th century near Kurjey Lhakhang in Bumthang Dzongkhag to heal the ailing Sindhu Raja. According to locals, the holy water cures all sorts of diseases.
Dra Zhi are the four great meditation cliffs of Guru Rinpoche in Bumthang Dzongkhag, where he meditated before subduing Shelging Karpo, the local deity of Bumthang, who took the life force (sog) of King Sindhu Raja.
Shugdra (also spelled Shuk Drak Goenpa) is one of Guru Rimpoche’s four cliffs (Dra-Zhi) located in the upper Choekhor-toed valley under Kharsa village of Bumthang at an elevation of 2680 meters. Choedrak in Chumey, Kunzangdrak, and Thowadrak in Tang Valley are the other three cliffs in the Bumthang Dzongkhag of central Bhutan.
Mebar Tsho, the Burning Lake of Bhutan, is the most sacred in Bhutan, where Pema Lingpa, a disciple of Guru Rinpoche and the greatest Terton, discovered several terma in 1475. Tang Membartsho is located in a gorge in the southern part of the Tang Valley in Bumthang Dzongkhag.
Choedrak is one of the Four Cliffs (Dra Zhi) of Guru Rinpoche on the northern ridge dominating the whole Chumey valley of Bumthang Dzongkhag at an altitude of 3,800 meters. Guru Rimpoche is said to have arrived at the sacred Choedrak riding on a tigress and meditated there just like he did in Paro Taktsang.
Later, a monastery was built against the cliff by Gyalwa Lorepa, a Drukpa Kagyupa lama from Tibet, in the 12th century.
Zhabjethang is a sacred plain where Guru Rinpoche and his consort Tashi Khyidren meditated and left their footprints in Chhokhor Toed under Bumthang Dzongkhag. A Lhakhang was built later in the 14th century by Terton Dorji Lingpa at the sacred site known as Zhabjeythang Lhakhang.
