Twelve centuries above the Mangde river.
Long before it took the name Sangchen Ogyen Tsuklag, this temple above the Mangde river was Rephel Mebar Lhakhang — a meditation seat founded in the 8th century by Monmo Tashi Khyidren, the Bhutanese consort of Guru Padmasambhava. Across twelve centuries it has been consecrated, neglected, and revived many times over. This is its story.
The good, western region of the Mangdeis beautifully shaped like a pretty arch;its villages quickly attract people from everywhere;its river takes a west-to-east-south course;its upper sides have many kinds of mountain forests.
— Kunkhen Longchenpa (1308–1363), on the Mangde valley
A valley shaped like an arch
The monastery stands in the Mangde valley of Trongsa — a region so rich in harvest that its very name, Mangdue or Mangdey, carries the meaning of abundance. It sits near Samdrup Choling (Samcholing) and Kunga Rapten, where the Second King of Bhutan once kept a summer palace.
The land around it reads like a natural mandala. The mountain rising in front is said to resemble Buddha Maitreya seated in meditation; the guardian deity Gangkar Shamig is held to dwell on the peak to the right. Below stand the historic Yungdrung Choling Dzong — seat of the relics of the great terton Pema Lingpa — and the former summer residence of Bhutan's First King, Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck. The Mangde river curves past the foot of these mountains as if making offering.
Founded by Monmo Tashi Khyidren
Guru Padmasambhava came to Bhutan in the 8th century at the invitation of King Sindha Raja, taking the princess Monmo Tashi Khyidren as his consort and subduing the spirits of the land as he concealed countless treasures across it, transforming the region into a sacred hidden land.
On a rise shaped like an upturned kapala — a skull cup — above a hidden spiritual lake, Monmo established Rephel Mebar Lhakhang as her own meditation temple. Guru Rinpoche himself consecrated it over three consecutive days and nights, manifesting here after completing the great consecration of Samye monastery in Tibet. On the north side of the temple rises a sacred spring, counted among the medicinal waters the Guru and his consort revealed for the benefit of all beings; Palden Lhamo — Mahakali — was appointed among its principal guardians.
Longchenpa's seat, and the lineage it carries
In time the temple became one of the seats of the great Longchenpa (1308–1363), who transmitted here his Seven Treasures and the Four Branches of the Heart Essence — the very lineage the monastery still carries today as Longchen Nyingthik.
A succession of masters blessed the Lhakhang after him: Jamyang Drakpa Ozer, Dorji Lingpa (1346–1405), Gyelsey Dawa Drakpa, and Terton Pema Lingpa. Trulku Chogden Gonpo — recognized as an incarnation of Dorji Lingpa and of Vairocana, and a disciple of Pema Lingpa — oversaw renovations and had the temple's Buddha statue and relics carved; they are revered to this day, prophesied to one day speak and to absorb the illnesses of those who venerate them.
Still more came after: Choeje Kunga Gyeltshen, Drukchen Ngagi Wangchuk, Mipham Tenpai Nima (1567–1619), and others of both the Nyingma and Drukpa Kagyu traditions. The last to make the temple his seat was Lama Gyeltshen, of the bloodline of the six Vajra brothers of Lhalung Palgyi Dorje.
Neglected, and restored again and again
After Lama Gyeltshen the temple fell into long neglect, with no caretaker left to make even the daily offerings. It was revived in the 17th century once it passed to the predecessors of Kungachholing, who renovated it and asked Sewala Jamgon Yeshey Dorji to consecrate it. Jamgon presided from distant Taktse Tangchen Lhakhang without ever visiting — and, not knowing the site, gave it a new name the community came to pronounce variously as medren or mendrel.
A further major renovation followed in the 19th century, carried out by Jakar Dzongpon Chimi Dorji, Ashi Lemo, and Her Royal Highness Ashi Pema Choki, and inaugurated by the 9th Pema Lingpa incarnation, Tenzin Choki Gyaltshen. The 10th Peling Thugsey, Thekchog Tenpai Gyaltsen (1951–2010), later resided there in meditation with his family.
Offered to Khedrupchen Rinpoche
In 2009, when the 5th Khedrupchen Rinpoche — Ugyen Tenzin Thinley Lhundrup, recognized incarnation of Khedrup Jigme Kundrol — came to the temple as a pilgrim, the communities of Samcholing and Rephel together offered him both the temple and its properties. He renamed it Sangchen Ogyen Tsuklag.
He began with ten monks, teaching writing and pronunciation, literature, sacred dance, mandala proportion, and chant. He revived the discontinued retreats — Dechen Zhingdrup, the Sukhavati practice, and the Nyungne fasting retreat of the first lunar month — and began teaching the public on auspicious days.
A full ritual calendar, and a monastery rebuilt
Today the monastery keeps a full calendar of practice: the Khandro Drupcho in the second month, commemorating the first Khedrup; a monthly protector offering on the 30th of each month; the Trelda Tshechu in the fifth month; and the great Vajrakilaya and Vajrasattva accomplishment rites, dedicated to the welfare of the country and the world.
From 2015 the monastery was steadily rebuilt — a monks' dormitory, then the Drupdey Pelchen Khang (“Heruka House”) retreat center, where the first three senior monks completed a seven-year retreat. The Dongag Shedrubling assembly hall, the Jigme Kundrol Library, a guest house, and a kitchen followed.
On 17 April 2021 — the day of Buddha's Kalachakra teaching — Khenchen Katayana of Namdroling Monastery in Mysore, South India, came to inaugurate the Ogyen Tsuklag Academy of higher Buddhist philosophy. Rinpoche gave the oral transmission of Jigme Lingpa's Yontendzo (Treasure of Wisdom) to nearly a thousand people, and nine monks — for the nine progressive paths to enlightenment — began their study of the great philosophical texts.
Carrying the lineage forward
By reviving these traditions, restoring its sacred structures, and building anew, Khedrupchen Rinpoche has worked to make Sangchen Ogyen Tsuklag a place that can answer the thirst for Buddhist wisdom and help sustain the Dharma in Bhutan. We ask for your prayers and your support in realizing that vision.