On February 21, 2026, His Majesty The King turned 46. It was an exciting and fun day for more than 12,000 volunteers at the Gelephu Mindfulness City, an important moment in Bhutan’s unique cultural traditions, and a milestone in the spiritual history of the Buddhist world.
At a special ceremony in Gelephu, three generations of Bhutan’s Royalty – His Majesty The King, His Majesty the fourth Druk Gyalpo, His Royal Highness the Gyalsey – as well as His Holiness the Je Khenpo and the Royal family literally broke the ground for Bhutan to construct the Gelephu Chorten. Situated as an elevated altar where the great Himalayas spreads into the vast Indo-Gangetic plains, the Gelephu Chorten will be a sacred Buddhist landmark.
The chorten, rising 80 metres high, taking off from the Jarung Khashor Chorten in Nepal, will be a magnificent milestone for Vajrayana Buddhism. The Gelephu Chorten is built on a powerful connection that stretches from ancient Buddhist history, through known Himalayan lineages, into a reassuring future.
According to Buddhist cosmology, the dharma has existed for eons and will continue for eons. We understand them through the teachings of ancient Buddhas with the protection of powerful sacred landmarks.
The Gelephu Chorten is such a spiritual landmark with a remarkable history which goes back to the period of Kashyapa Buddha who came before the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who lived 2,500 years ago to India.
A poor poultry woman raised four sons and then went to the King to plead for land to build a chorten. The King was deeply moved by this poor woman who had achieved so much with so little. It is believed that his words were spontaneous: “Let it be done”.
From this story came the name of the chorten, Jarung Khashor, which stands in what is now the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. In Tibetan, Jarung refers to the command, “let it be done”, and Kashor “slip of the tongue”, implying that the command was not reasoned, but spontaneous.
The woman and her sons began work on the chorten and, when she died, her sons completed it. They placed inside the chorten relics of Buddha Kashyapaand performed an elaborate consecration during which is it believed that buddhas and bodhisattvas appeared in the sky. They granted the builders the opportunity to make aspirations which would be fulfilled.
The oldest son prayed that he would be born as a King who would bring the Buddha’s teachings to the frozen land to the north, covered in snow and ice.Incidentally, when he made the prayer, a mosquito landed on his neck and, when he brushed it away, he accidentally killed it. Moved by immediate compassion, he also prayed that when he was reborn this mosquito would be reborn as his child and would practice the dharma.
This land was Tibet and he was born as King Trisong Deutsen. The mosquito was reborn as Princess Pemasal, daughter of King Trisong Deutsen.
The second son became Abbot Shantarakshita, who ordained the first Tibetan monks. The third became Guru Padmasambhava, the master who subdued spirits across the Himalayas and brought Buddhism to Bhutan. The fourth became a minister who helped bring them all together. Together they built Samye, Tibet’s first monastery.
This is the story as it was told in the eighth century by Guru Padmasambhava, to King Trisong Deutsen and his disciples at Samye Monastery in Tibet. His student Yeshe Tsogyal wrote everything he said. They concealed the text as a terma, a hidden treasure teaching, behind a statue at Samye.
Historical records suggest that, around 1512, the Treasure Revealer, Ngakchang Shakya Zangpo, discovered the translation at Samye. The text described the great chorten Nepal with prophecies about its decay and restoration. Shakya Zangpo traveled to Nepal to find the legendary stupa and found only an abandoned mound.
The massive structure that stands today, known as Boudhanath, is likely his work. The enormous white dome with its distinctive eyes painted on the golden spire is among the most recognised Buddhist monuments, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. For centuries it has been an important pilgrimage destination for Buddhists from across the Himalayas.
The historical vein continues… Princess Pemasal studied as a devotee of Guru Padmasambhava and received profound teachings. She died at a young age and, according to Buddhist lore, her story continued across lifetimes. In 1450, she was reborn as Pema Lingpa, the great Bhutanese treasure revealer (terton), in the valley of Bumthang.
Pema Lingpa became one of Bhutan’s greatest spiritual masters and established the powerful lineage with descendants who continued both his spiritual and family lines. His son, Khedrup Kuenga Wangpo (16th century), established the Khochung Choeje lineage and constructed the Khochung Lhakhang in Lhuntse, Bhutan, around 1505–1532. His descendants include Pila Gonpo Wangyal, the father of Desi Jigme Namgyal and thus the ancestry of the Wangchuck Dynasty which has ruled Bhutan since 1907.
Bhutan’s first King, Ugyen Wangchuck (reigned 1907–1926), sponsored the last major reconstruction of the Jarung Kashor chorten (Boudhanath Stupa) in Nepal, in the early 20th century, the renovation overseen by Lama Sonam Zangpo. His Majesty The King visited Jarung Khashor in 2024.
In 2023, His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck commanded the construction of the Gelephu Chorten, carrying the lineage of Pema Lingpa a descendant, through past lives, of a man’s extraordinary compassion to a dying insect.
Like the original Jarung Khoshar Chorten, the Gelephu Chorten rises from an act of sovereign will. The chorten in Nepal has stood through cycles of construction, ruin, and restoration. It has fulfilled aspirations for pilgrims down the ages. This aspiration connects ancient Buddhist teachings in Tibet, to the great treasure revealer of Bhutan, and now to the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
(This article is drawn from the teachings of Buddhist masters over the centuries and the research of historians covering the same period.)
Contributed by Dasho Kinley Dorji
