| Name: | Sumtrhang Lhakhang |
|---|---|
| Identity: | Lhakhang |
| Level: | Registered Heritage Building |
| Category: | Heritage Building |
| Founder: | Gyelwa Lhanangpa and Nyoetoen Thrulzhig Choeje |
| Constructed(Year|Century): | | 13 |
| No. of Floor | 2floor |
| Main Wall | Stone wall |
| Location: | Ura, Bumthang |
| Current Use: | Original |
| Ownership: | Private |
| Coodinates: | 27:29:31.482⁰N; 90:55:8.232⁰E |
The lhakhang is popularly known as Dechen Sumtrhang Samdrup Choedzong. It is said to be the earliest monastic established in Bhutan. The oral history deeply embedded in the local oral narrative passed down from generation to generation concludes that Nyo Gyelwa Lhanangpa founded the lhakhang as the seat of Lhanangpa. The less well-known Nyoton Dechog is not a founding figure among the local people who follow the oral narrative without literary knowledge to access the written records. Nyoton Dechog is treated is as the founder based on the narrative provided by the existing textual sources. However, the manuscript sources say the Vajrakilaya practicing saint of Nyo clan known as Nyoton Dechog Thrulzhig Choje founded the Sumthrang lhakhang in 1220 following the wishes of his father, Nyo Gyelwa Lhanangpa. His father, known as the Tibetan Buddhist master, visited Bhutan in 1194 and established the first lhakhang in western Bhutan known as Chelkha Dzong. While his father belonged to Drikung Kagyue monastic order of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyoton Dechog studied and practiced the Vajrakilaya doctrine of the Nyingma monastic order which is the oldest order of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. According to one of the manuscripts outlining the lineage history of Sumthrang’s Vajrakilaya tradition, it was known that the root master who is the pivotal teacher Ngagchang Nyeljor Tsemo taught him the teachings of the Vajrakilaya practice and prophesized that he would go to a place called Bumthang in Bhutan, then known as the southern region of darkness.
