"A sacred cliff of Guru Rinpoche in the Chumey Valley, where hermits have sought solitude for centuries"
Choeje Dra Monastery
Gyaltsa, Bumthang District, Bhutan
Choeje Dra Monastery — also romanized as Choedrak or Choje Drak — stands against one of Guru Rinpoche's four sacred meditation cliffs in Bumthang. At 3,800 metres in the Chumey Valley, it has served as a hermitage for practitioners seeking the most demanding form of solitary practice. The cliff, the altitude, and the silence are the monastery's primary offerings.
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Quick Facts
Location
Gyaltsa, Bumthang District, Bhutan
Tradition
Site Type
Coordinates
27.5339, 90.6873
Last Updated
Mar 9, 2026
Learn More
One of the four Dra Zhi — sacred meditation cliffs of Guru Rinpoche in Bumthang. Established as a hermitage by Gyalwa Lorepa in the twelfth century.
Origin Story
Guru Rinpoche consecrated four cliffs in the Bumthang landscape as meditation sites. At this cliff, Gyalwa Lorepa later spent twenty-two years in retreat. Longchenpa composed sacred texts in a cave above. After a period when the site became inaccessible, Ngawang Trinley performed an exorcism and rebuilt the monastery in the eighteenth century.
Key Figures
Guru Rinpoche
Consecrated the cliff as a sacred meditation site
Gyalwa Lorepa
Established the hermitage; meditated for twenty-two years
Longchenpa
Composed part of the Seven Treasures in a cave above
Spiritual Lineage
Bridges Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingmapa traditions through the successive presence of practitioners from both lineages.
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