Dorjitse monastery was founded by Lama Gyalwa Shacha Rabgay in the late 12th century who was the third reincarnation of Gyalsey Darmadodey. According to the oral history, it is said that when Gyalsey Darmadodey was about to die in Tibet, his father Lord Marpa (root teacher of Milarepa) gave him secret instructions and empowerment on ejection and transference of consciousness (phowa drunjug) thereby enabling Gyalsey Darmadodey to pass his consciousness into a dead pigeon which miraculously came to life and flew towards India as destined and commanded by Marpa. While flying toward India, the pigeon is said to see a mountain in central Bhutan that looked like a five-pronged vajra where the pigeon landed and rested for three nights. Before flying towards India, the pigeon sat on a fragment of a rock in order to foresee his prophecy to benefit the sentient beings in the region by his future reincarnations. He thought to himself, “If it is for me to be successful in benefiting the beings of this region in the future, let there be my footprint on this fragment of rock.” No sooner had the pigeon thought, than the claw print on the rock appeared which can be seen even today. Then, the pigeon flew towards India. There he saw Brahmin’s son who was about to be cremated so he transferred his consciousness into a corpse and suddenly the corpse came to life. Thereafter, Brahmin’s son came to be known as Mahasiddha Tiphupa (Paravatapada) who is said to be the second reincarnation of Gyalsey Darma Dodey. Then before he died, Tiphupa transferred his consciousness to Lama Gyalwa Shacha Rabgay who was born in eastern Bhutan in the 12th century. This method of transferring consciousness from one body to another (zuekay) is the unique and typical characteristic of how the reincarnations of Gyalsey Darmadodey passed from one body to another, unlike the normal reincarnation process.