Thukten Shedrup Dargay Choling

Thukten Shedrup Dargay Choling Lhakhang is located in Chumey valley. It is also known as Nimalung Lhakhang. It is approximately a 15 minute drive from the road that branches off from the village of Chumey.

The Lhakhang was co-founded by Dasho Gonpo Dorji and Doring Trulku Jamyang Kunzang, the third mind reincarnation of Terton Jigme Lingpa in 1935.

Doring Trulku visited Bhutan from Kham, Tibet with sole mission to read the Kuenkhen Zoeduen, a religious text, a hundred times which was written by Kuenkhen Longchen, the founder of Tharpaling monastery. He came via the Monlakarchung pass and met Jamyang Tshundru and his son Choney Pelden who invited him to Shugdra. They later became his disciples. Doring Trulku left Shugdra for Nyimalung in pursuit of his mission. He set to read the text but couldn’t complete reading it a hundred times as he had to perform rituals after the demise of Dasho Jamyang, the father-in-law of the second King Jigme Wangchuck.

It was during the funeral ceremonies that Doring Trulku met Dasho Gonpo Dorji, son of Dasho Jamyang.

Dasho Gonpo Dorji, on becoming the new hereditary Dungpa (sub district administrator) of Chumey immediately thought of laying foundations for a Lhakhang and opens a monastic institution to uphold the school of Buddhism enriched by Kuenkhen Longchen and Jigme Lingpa.

Today, the temple serves as a Sheydra (monastic school) as well as a Drubda (mediation center).
The cornices of the Lhakhang are painted with the images of Buddha. This was instructed by Doring Trulku himself as a funeral rite for his mother, who died while searching for him. Before Trulku left for Tibet, he requested the second hereditary king of Bhutan, Jigme Wangchuck, to renovate and upgrade the Lhakhang. Upon his request, the king ordered the renovation works.

The main relic of the two-storied temple is the statue of Guru Rinpoche. The monastery is also decorated with murals of the Nyingmapa and Drukpa traditions. There are also paintings of Guru Rinpoche and his disciples, the lineage of Terton Pema Lingpa, of Zambala, of Lord Buddha, and several Masters affiliated with the monastery.