Bumdra Monastery

Bumdra Monastery (Dzongkha: 'Bum-brag, "Hundred Thousand Rock" or "Cave of a Hundred Thousand Prayers") is a remote cliffside hermitage in Tsento Gewog, Paro Dzongkhag, perched at an elevation of about 3,800 metres above the cliffs that hold Paro Taktsang. It is one of the more inaccessible taktsang sites in Bhutan, reached by a steep two-day climb from the Paro valley floor.^[1][2]

The site is associated in Bhutanese tradition with Guru Padmasambhava and his consort Khandro Yeshe Tshogyel, who are said to have meditated in its caves in the eighth century. Its name refers to the rock above the hermitage on which a hundred thousand dakinis are said to have left their footprints. The monastery is small and houses a limited resident community, but it functions as the high point of one of Bhutan's most important contemporary pilgrimage routes, the Bumdra Trek, which descends through the cliffs above Taktsang.^[1][3]

Religious tradition

The traditional account places Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tshogyel at the site during their travels through the Himalayan region in the eighth century. Yeshe Tshogyel, in particular, is identified with the dakini footprints — small concave depressions in the rock that pilgrims approach as relics of her presence. The site is thus a complementary location to the better-known Paro Taktsang below it, where Padmasambhava is said to have meditated for three months and three days in his wrathful Dorje Drolo manifestation.^[2][3]

The monastery's shrine room contains an image of Padmasambhava, with secondary images of Yeshe Tshogyel and other dakinis associated with the eighth-century Tibetan transmission. The rock with the footprints stands in a corner of the shrine.^[2]

Location and access

Bumdra is reached from the road head at Sang Choekor Buddhist College above Paro, climbing through blue-pine and rhododendron forest for several hours to reach a high meadow at about 3,600 metres, from which the monastery is a further short climb. There is no road access. The walking time from Sang Choekor to the monastery is typically six to seven hours, depending on acclimatisation and weather. The site is at the upper limit of the forest belt and is exposed to high winds and cold temperatures even in summer.^[1][3]

The Bumdra Trek, sometimes marketed as the "Trek of the Thousand Dakinis", is a two- or three-day route that ascends from Sang Choekor to Bumdra, camps overnight in the high meadow, and descends the following day through the cliffs above Paro Taktsang to the Tiger's Nest itself. The descent route allows pilgrims to approach Taktsang from above, a distinctive feature of the trek and a perspective on the monastery that is not available from the standard ascent from the valley floor.^[1][3]

Wider pilgrimage circuit

Bumdra is one node in a wider Paro pilgrimage circuit that includes Paro Taktsang, the cliffside hermitage of Zangdok Pelri (the "Copper-Coloured Mountain"), and several smaller meditation caves clustered along the same line of cliffs. The combined circuit is associated in Bhutanese practice with the wider taktsang tradition of Padmasambhava's tiger-borne visits to sites in the Himalayan region, of which Paro Taktsang is the principal Bhutanese example.^[2]

Monastic community

The monastery houses a small year-round community of monks engaged primarily in retreat practice, supplemented by visiting practitioners undertaking shorter retreats. Provisions are carried up from the valley by porters or pack animals, and the community is dependent on lay donations from pilgrims and trekking visitors. The remoteness of the site and the difficulty of supply have kept the resident establishment small.^[2]

References

1. Bumdra Trek — Breathe Bhutan
2. Bumdrak Monastery, where Dakinis left 100,000 Footprints — Bhutan Pilgrimage
3. Bumdra Trek — Horizon Guides
4. Paro Taktsang — Wikipedia
5. Bumdra Trek — Druk Asia