Paro Taktsang

The legend

Taktsang means "tiger's lair". Bhutanese tradition holds that Padmasambhava, the tantric master credited with establishing Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century, flew to this cliff on the back of a tigress, in his wrathful form as Dorje Drolo, to subdue the local demons, and that he meditated in a cave here for some months. The tigress is sometimes identified with his consort Yeshe Tsogyal transformed. The cave became a place of meditation for later masters, among them Milarepa by some accounts, and the Tibetan saint Thangtong Gyalpo. Several caves on the cliff are associated with the legend.

Padmasambhava's activity in Bhutan is attested only in later tradition, mainly in texts revealed as hidden treasures from the fourteenth century onward. For the historian these show the importance of his cult; for the faithful they are the record of his deeds.

The temple

The present complex was built in 1692 by Tenzin Rabgye, the fourth Desi or civil ruler of Bhutan, who is said to have visited the cave and begun the temple there. It consists of several temple buildings and a monks' residence fixed to ledges of the cliff and linked by stairs and walkways, with whitewashed walls and gilded roofs. The main temple encloses the cave of Padmasambhava, which is opened to pilgrims once a year.

The temple is reached on foot, by a path that climbs through pine forest from the valley floor, crosses to a viewpoint on the opposite side of a ravine, and descends and climbs again by several hundred steps to the gate. The climb takes most visitors several hours.

The Paro valley below is one of the oldest centres of Buddhism in Bhutan. The Kyichu Lhakhang, near the valley floor, is held by tradition to be one of the temples founded by the Tibetan emperor Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century to pin down a demoness lying across the Himalaya. The Rinpung Dzong, built under the Zhabdrung in the 1640s, is the valley's seat of administration, and the ruined Drukgyel Dzong at its head commemorates victories over Tibetan invaders in the same period.

Fire and rebuilding

In April 1998 a fire destroyed the main temple building and many of its contents. The cause was never firmly established; a butter lamp or an electrical fault was suggested. The government had the temple rebuilt to the original design, using traditional materials and methods, and it was reconsecrated in 2005.

Place in Bhutan

Taktsang is one of the most sacred places in Bhutan and one of the thirteen "tiger's lairs" where Padmasambhava is said to have meditated across the Himalaya. It is visited by Bhutanese pilgrims, especially on the tenth day of the lunar month, which is held sacred to Guru Rinpoche, and it has become the country's best-known image abroad.