Kyichu Lhakhang of Bhutan : A Legacy of Nepalese Princess Bhrikuti

1. Historical Background
Kyichu Lhakhang or Kyerchu Temple is a Buddhist temple in Paro District in
Bhutan. It is close to the Paro Airport .This is one of the oldest monastery in Paro
district
It is one of the oldest monasteries in the country built in the 7th century by the
Tibetan King Songsten Gampo under the initiative of Nepalese Princess Bhrikuti
Devi.

The story goes that a giant demoness lay across the whole area of Tibet and the
Himalayas and was preventing the spread of Buddhism. To overcome her, King
Srong btsan Gampo decided to build 108 temples, which would be placed on all
the points of her body. Temples were built across the Himalayas to pin her body
down. Kyichu Lhakhang pins down her left foot and Jampa y Lhakhang in
Bumthang her left knee.

Of these 108 temples, 12 were built in accordance with precise plans. Thus, it
happened that in about the year AD 638 the temple of Jokhang in Lhasa was built
over the very heart of the demoness. There's a belief that the two orange trees here
in Kyichu Lakhang bears fruit throughout the year.

Guru Rinpoche came here to meditate in the eighth century. He hid many treasures
of the dharma, precious things and sacred substances.

In the eleventh century Terton Lama Drumpa performed the wrathful subjugatiing
mantras of the Rajor scriptures ( gza' rgod spu gri) at te temple.

In the catalogue of monasteries written by Je khenpo Sherab Gyaltsen it is written

that, during the twelfth century, the temple was looked after by the successors of
Lama Lhapa and it was handed over to a descendant of Phajo Drugom's son,
Nyima in the thirteenth century.

In the Ngagyur Chojung Lhawang Yugyal, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche wrote
that the Jowo Temple of Kichu, which can be seen today was once damaged and
could not be seen by ordinary people, Ugyen Pema Lingpa ( 1450-1521), the fourth
of the five Terton Kings, rebuilt it for the sake of sentient beings exactly as it is
before.
In thebiography of Yongzin Ngawang Drakpa, the first Hephu tulku (b.1525) it is
recorded that, when he went there to discover treasures in accordance with the
prophecy of Guru Rinpoche, the temple was under the care of thedescendant of
Lama Lhapa.From this , we can surmise that the temple was left unclaimed for
sometime between the 14th an d 15th centuries and was taken over by the lineage
holders of Lama Lhapa in the 16th century.

In 1644, the temple was taken over by Zhabdrung Rinpoche and placed under the
care of te Government of Bhutan.From 1836 to 1836, it was renovated and re-
consecrated by the Sehrab gyaltsen, the 25th je Khenpo.

Pilgrims turn the many prayer wheels along the walls as they circummambulate the
temple. The fine statues of the Bodhisattvas and the Buddha are national treasures.
The wooden floor of the sanctum is inlaid with turquoise and coral gemstones
offered by pilgrims.

A second temple built by the Queen Mother in 1968 hosts the annual Drupchen
prayers held to ensure the well being of the county and the King. The late Dilgo
Khentse Rimpoche presided over these ceremonies.

2.Original legend of the Temple:

One of the notable contribution of Princess Bhrikuti Devi was her elaborate
method of temple constructions. Princess Bhrikuti devi also built temples in
Bhutan and diffused Buddhist culture through the medium of temple
buildings.After completion of Princess Bhriuti's palace on Red Hill, the tibetan
Minister mGar requested the king Srong btsan Gampo to authorise his mission to
the court of China to request the hand of the Chinese Princess Wencheng
Kongjo.The king appreciated his proposal and sent him with seven gold coins as
present to be given to the Chinese emperor. He also sent an armour of malachite
inlaid with beryl as the price for bride.
The minister mGar was given three letters similar to the previous ones given to the
Nepalese King 'od zer Gocha but this time the mission was no so easy.The mission
suffered a lot and had to perform different trials. Inspite of these difficulties, the
wise minister mGar, through witty intellect was able to secure the Chinese princess
in the year 641 A.D.
After sometime, the Nepalese consort went to the king's apartment in the upper
castle unhindered and asked for advice: I would like to build a temple, your
majesty being the lord of these lands, I am asking for a piece of land on which on
which to build a temple. Then the king responded: " Build the temple where it suits
you"

Nepalese Princess Bhrikuti Devi alias Khri-btsun had an entourage of horse riders
and many kinds of male and female demons and evil spirits.She first laid the
foundation of 108 temples in Yar-lungs and other good places in the border
regions.It also include Kyichu Lhakhang at Paro and Jampay Lhakhang at
Bumthang in Bhutan.

She once again met the king in the top of th epalace ad addressed the king thus:
" O Great king! Although I have put the foundation of 108 temples, what I built in
the day has been destroyed at night. Please tell me what I can do ?
The king replied: " You should consult Chinese Princess Kong jo once more
because she is an expert in Chinese geomancy" At this she she said: she has not
instructed me correctly" then the king said: You will recive definite instruction
now."

The text Mani Ka'-'bum -Punakha edition gives following legend concerning the
construction of 108 temples.
When the king was praying to expel the communityof demons to the Sandalwood
image of Avalokiteshvara.Then from the sky a ray of light resembling that of the
sun appeared and filled the entire land of snowy Tibet.Again,, when the ray of light
reached the king, a voice suddenly came and spoke thus: " Ema-ho ! O King you
are a protector of Dharma sent by the compassionate mind of all Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas, by the great benediction of your previous prayers now being
accomplished, ripen those beings who difficult to tame".

(fol.136b) Thus the sound was heard.The king, thinking that he should build
temples, spoke thus: " The land of Tibet, the coundtry of red faced demons, is a
dark, dense, gloomy country.Powerful evil demons and gods possess cultivated
lands.There are always snow and hailstorms.They bring forth hailstorms destroying
all the harvests. Men are very wrathful and women are very lustful.The demons are
envious; people and cattle have a short life. One the surface they behave well, but
in their hearts they have bad motives.Theple do not listen to their masters, the sons
do not listen to their fathers, the wives do not listen to their husbands.People think
of their worthy teachers as their enemies and receive their faulty teachers with
praise and honour face to face, such a place is this Tibet.However, I have hope in
the great Compassionate one. You who are my followers, listen to me for while. A
Sam !
Then the Nepalese Princess Bhrikuti spoke:" Kye ho ! the great Compassionate
One , isn't it you, Venerable Sir ? For the benefit of sentient beings, the great
compassionate One, are you dissolute ? Guide the sentient beings of this
snowland who difficult to tame.Kindle the lamp of True Law in this dark country
of Tibet.Establish the temples as the support of devotion for the Tibetan people. I
too, incessantly work for the benefit of all sentient beings".

Lha-gcig Kong Jo also said: Kye ho! O Great King, you are indeed the Great
Compassionate One, do ot contradict with your compassionate deeds. Please don't
interrupt our work for the happiness of these people, send down your
compassionate rays quickly, I too want to see your compassionate activity."

(fol 137a) Then the king emanated the rays of light filling all the Tibetan sky. It
ripened all the fruit trees grew in the forest, land become fertile, brooks swelled
and all sentient beings found happiness.Then the king enmanated two thousand
bodies, one thousand of which built temples.then the king perceived that the
demoness was striking out with her arms and legs. In order to pin these down, he
built four temples in the central regions of the country known as Ru-gnon chen po
bzhi. In other words they are called " The four great horn suppressors.They are as
follows:
1.To suppress the left shoulder of the mdemoness, he erected temple of Khra-brug
at gYu district.
2.To suppress the right shoulder, he erected he erected the temple of KA-tshal in
dBu –ru district.
3.To suppress the right hip, he erected the temple of gTsang-'gram at gYas-ru
district.
4.To suppress the left hip, he erected the temple of grom parGyang at Ru-lag.

These are the four great Ru-gnon temples, which were each built in a day. Then the
king gave further instructions to build four temples to tame the border,
mtha'-'dul.these were the following

1.To suppress the righ elbow, he built the temple of Kongpo at Bu-chu.
2.To suppress the left elbow, he built the temple of Kho-mthing at Lha-brag.
3.To suppress the left knee, he erected the temple of Bumthang at Mon
district.
4.To suppress the right knee, he eected the temple of Pra-dun-rtse at Byang.
These were the four mTha' 'dul temple temples for taming the border
regions.Finally, four temples were built to tame the area beyond the border i.e
Yang-'dul temples

1.To suppress the right hand, he erected the temple of sGronma at mDo-khams
gLong Thang.
2.To suppress the left hand, he erected the temple of rlung-gnon at Byang tsang
pa.
3.To suppress the right leg, he erected the temple of Byams-sprin at Mang Yul.
4.To suppress the left leg, he erected the temple of sKer-chu at spa-gro ( Paro)

These are the four Yang-'dul temples.These temples are built each in a day.
To the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the king appeared in the form of
Avalokiteshvara working for the benefit of the people of Tibet, erecting temples
and palaces of Dharma.Thepeople of Tibet living in these central and border areas
saw the king Srong btsan gampo come to each of ( fol137b) these places, where he
commanded them to build the temples. But the inner and outer retinues of the king
ddid not consent to build Khri-btsun's temple and they built temples in other areas
to suppress the malignant spirits.
This completes the account of bulding the Rugnon, mtha''dul and Yang'dul
temples.

3.The Description of the site:

Kyichu is one of the main 12 temples of the 108 temples that were built overnight
across Tibet and borderland.The temple was adopted by different sects and many
imporant buddhist teachers spent time year and unearthed conceiled treasures.

The main inner hall of Jovo Lhakhang shrine conceils the original the seventh
century Jovo Maitreya statue. Its central Maitreya is flanked by eight standing
bodhisattvas, the statue of Zabdrung and Guru Rinpoche.

The outer hall of Jovo statue contains four large sized 1000 armed Lokeshvara
statues with eleven heads.
Kyichu lhakhang
Kyichu lhakhang was a small structure at the time of its establishment. Over the
years the temple was visited by and blessed by many famous Buddhist saints
including Guru Rinpoche in the eight century, Lam kha nga and Phajo dugom
zhigpo to list a few. Many of them expanded the temple in size and grandeur over
the period of time.One such personality was Je Sherab Gyaltsen who lived in 18th
century. He extended the Jovo Lhakhang and added many new statues.the latest
extension was carried out in 1965 under the initiative of royal queen mother Ashi
Keshang choden wangchuk.She added another new structure called Guru
Lhakhang. As one of the oldest temple in Bhutan, the temple has many relics.

The inner hall of main Jovo Lhakhang conceals the valley's greatest treasures, an
original seventh century statue of Jovo Shakyamuni believed to be cast at the same
time as Jovo Shakyamuni of Lhasa.

Attached to Jovo Lhakhang is the shrine of Guru Rinpoche which was constructed
by the queen mother Ashi Kelsang Wangchuk in 1968 and its main image is 5m
statue of Guru Padmasambhava and red Kurukulla.

Also there is a chorten containing the relics of Master Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche, a
highly revered Master and spiritual teacher of queen mother. He passed away in
the year 1992 and cremated nearby.

Conclusion:

It seemed that Nepalese Princess Bhrikuti had contributed substantially in building

Buddhist temples and its culture in Bhutan as well.When I was in Bhutan recently
May 13- 20, 2010, I came across some Buddhist monks who informed me that two
temples Paro Kyichu and Jampay Lhakhang at Bumthang are the two popular ones
only.There are others as well whose names have not been identified as yet.In
personal level most of the Drug pa Kagyu lamas had established numerous
Buddhist temples and establishments in Kathmandu valley such as Shechen
Monastery and Amitabha Mountain near Sitapaila site.But from the government
level the authorities have virtually taken no step to strenghten mutual and age-old
relationship between Nepal and Bhutan.It is time for the authorities to be aware of
this common spiritual heritage of Nepal and Bhutan.