Overview

Cheri Monastery is Buddhist Monastery in Bhutan, located at an altitude of 2320m above sea level, 15 km towards the north of Thimphu. It sits on a hill above the end of Dodeyna and it takes about an hour to walk up the steep hill to reach the monastery from there. The Monastery is regarded as one of the important Buddhist monasteries in Bhutan. Cheri Monastery was built by Zhabdrung Ngewang Namgyal in 1620, who came to Bhutan in 1616 AD. The Monastery is a major teaching and retreat center of the southern Drupa Lineage of the Kagyu School of the Tibetan Buddhism. According to the religious history of Bhutan, the place was first blessed by the visit of Guru Padmasambhava in the 8 th century. In the 13 th century, the site was visited by the Phajo Drugom Zhigpo, the Tibetan Lama, who first established Drukpa Kagyu Tradition in Bhutan.