Choeje Dra Monastery

Choeje Dra Monastery — also romanized as Choedrak or Choje Drak — stands against one of Guru Rinpoche's four sacred meditation cliffs in Bumthang. At 3,800 metres in the Chumey Valley, it has served as a hermitage for practitioners seeking the most demanding form of solitary practice. The cliff, the altitude, and the silence are the monastery's primary offerings.

The Dzongkha name renders differently in Roman script depending on the translator — Choeje Dra, Choje Drak, Choedrak — but the place is singular. It is a cliff face in the Chumey Valley of Bumthang where Guru Rinpoche is said to have arrived on the back of a tigress, consecrating the rock as one of four sacred meditation sites (Dra Zhi) in the valley.

The site's identity is inseparable from solitary practice. Gyalwa Lorepa spent twenty-two years here in the twelfth century. Longchenpa composed part of his masterwork, the Seven Treasures, in a cave above the main structures. These were not brief visits but extended inhabitations of silence and stone. The monastery that exists today — white structures pressed against grey cliff, housing ancient chapels, a chorten, and a spring — preserves this character.

Visitors who make the steep climb from Tharpaling or the longer forest route from Lamey Goenpa will find a place that has been shaped by the absence of distraction rather than the presence of spectacle. Choeje Dra does not perform its sacredness. It simply holds it, in rock and altitude and the accumulated attention of those who have practiced here across eight centuries.

One of the four Dra Zhi — sacred meditation cliffs of Guru Rinpoche in Bumthang. Established as a hermitage by Gyalwa Lorepa in the twelfth century.

Guru Rinpoche consecrated four cliffs in the Bumthang landscape as meditation sites. At this cliff, Gyalwa Lorepa later spent twenty-two years in retreat. Longchenpa composed sacred texts in a cave above. After a period when the site became inaccessible, Ngawang Trinley performed an exorcism and rebuilt the monastery in the eighteenth century.

Bridges Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingmapa traditions through the successive presence of practitioners from both lineages.

The thinness here is geological — the bare cliff, the altitude, the reduction of everything to rock, sky, and the sustained attention of hermit practitioners.

At 3,800 metres, against bare rock, the conditions strip life to its essentials. This is what hermits have always sought at Choeje Dra: a place where the world does not compete for attention, where the only relationship is between the practitioner and what the practice reveals. The cliff's thinness is not mystical in the conventional sense. It is structural — created by altitude, exposure, and the simple fact that reaching this place requires enough effort to ensure that only those who truly need to come will arrive.

Sacred meditation cliff consecrated by Guru Rinpoche. Used for hermitage practice from the twelfth century.

From sacred cliff to active hermitage to period of abandonment to rebuilt monastery. The cycle of inhabitation and vacancy may itself be part of the site's character.

Solitary meditation retreat in the hermitage tradition.

Extended meditation retreats by monks, following the example of Gyalwa Lorepa's twenty-two-year practice.

The hermitage continues to be used for retreat. A small number of monks maintain the chapels.

The hike itself is a practice. At the monastery, sitting quietly with the cliff at your back is the most direct way to participate in the site's quality.

The experience is defined by the approach — a demanding hike through forest and steep terrain — and by the silence that meets you at the cliff face.

Whether approaching from Tharpaling (one hour, steep) or Lamey Goenpa (three hours, through forest and over a pass), the hike to Choeje Dra strips away the pace and noise of the valley below. The monastery appears as white against grey — structures small against the cliff, intimate in scale. Inside the chapels, Guru Rinpoche's stone footprint and the thousand-armed Chenresig provide focal points for attention. Above, Longchenpa's cave can be reached with additional climbing.

The quality of the place is silence, not as absence but as presence. The cliff face creates a wall of stone at your back. The valley falls away below. The sky is immediate and vast. In this setting, even breathing becomes noticeable.

Begin early. Carry water and warm clothing. When you arrive, sit before entering the chapels. Let the altitude and the silence establish themselves in your body. The chapels will mean more after the cliff has done its work.

Choeje Dra can be understood as a hermitage, as a node in Bumthang's sacred geography, or as a place where landscape and practice become indistinguishable.

The site is documented in scholarly literature as one of the four Dra Zhi of Guru Rinpoche in Bumthang. Romanization varies between sources (Choeje Dra, Choje Drak, Choedrak), reflecting the challenges of transliterating Dzongkha.

Within the Buddhist understanding, each of the four cliffs holds a particular quality of enlightened activity. The hermitage tradition understands the cliff itself as a teacher — its stone, altitude, and exposure providing conditions that support the practitioner's inner work.

The hermitage offers an ecology of practice that modern contemplative traditions are beginning to rediscover — the idea that certain landscapes actively support certain forms of inner transformation.

Whether Choeje Dra and Choedrak represent the same site or distinct locations within the same cliff complex is not entirely settled in available sources.

Full-day excursion from Bumthang. April through November only. Demanding hike required.

From Tharpaling Monastery (37km from Chamkhar): 1-hour steep climb. From Lamey Goenpa: 3-hour forest hike over a pass.

Bumthang (Jakar) town lodges and guesthouses

Silence and non-intrusion are the primary forms of respect at this hermitage.

This is a place of active retreat practice. Move quietly, speak minimally, and do not enter areas that appear closed. The stone footprint and other sacred objects should not be touched.

Hiking clothing. Cover shoulders and knees in chapels.

Ask before photographing inside chapels. No flash.

Butter lamp offerings welcome.

Maintain silence | Do not disturb retreatants | Stay on paths | Do not enter closed areas

Sacred places within a half-day’s reach. Pilgrims often visit them together: walk one, stay for the other.

Choedrak Monastery

Gyaltsa, Bumthang District, Bhutan

0.0 km away

Jampa Lhakhang

Dawathang_Dorjibi_ Kashingtsawa, Bumthang District, Bhutan

6.5 km away

Kurje Monastery

Dawathang_Dorjibi_ Kashingtsawa, Bumthang District, Bhutan

7.3 km away

Konchogsum Lhakhang, Bumthang

Pedtsheling_Tamzhing, Bumthang District, Bhutan

7.7 km away

Sources consulted when researching this page. Independent verification by readers is welcome.

1. 01Choedrak Monastery - Wikipediahigh-reliability
2. 02Choedrak Monastery - Bhutan Pilgrimage — Bhutan Pilgrimage
3. 03Bumthang traditional architecture — Oriental Architecture
4. 04Choedrak - Bhutan Luxury Tour — Bhutan Luxury Tour