Chagri Monastery

Chagri Dorjeden Monastery also called "Cheri Monastery" is a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan established in 1620, by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. The founder of the Butanese state.The monastery, which is now a major teaching and retreat center of the Southern Drukpa Kagyu order, is located at the northern end of Thimphu Valley about fifteen kilometers from the capital. It sits on a hill above the end of the road at Dodeyna and it takes about an hour to walk up the steep hill to reach the monastery from there. According to Bhutanese religious histories, the place was first visited by Padmasambhava in the 8th century. In the 13th century it was visited by Phajo Drugom Zhigpo the Tibetan Lama who first established the Drukpa Kagyu tradition in Bhutan. Chagri Dorjeden was the first monastery established in Bhutan by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1620 when he was 27 years old. Zhabdrung spent three years in strict retreat at Chagri and resided there for many periods throughout the rest of his life. It was at Chagri in 1623 that he established the first Drukpa Kagyu monastic order in Bhutan.