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LoadingA Bhutanese religious figure
Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo (1184-1251) was the 13th-century Tibetan lama who brought the Drukpa Kagyu tradition to Bhutan — the foundational religious figure for the principal contemporary Bhutanese institutional religious tradition. He established the foundational Drukpa Kagyu sites at Tango Goemba and Cheri Goemba above the Thimphu valley; his transmission lineage was carried forward across the subsequent centuries and formalised by the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 17th century. The 'Druk' (dragon) lineage name that Phajo brought to Bhutan ultimately gives the country its name — Druk Yul, the Land of the Dragon.
religious · Drukpa Kagyu · 1184–1251
Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo (1184-1251) was born in eastern Tibet and trained in the principal Tibetan Drukpa Kagyu monastic tradition under Onre Dharma Senge (the principal Drukpa Kagyu master of his era). The Drukpa Kagyu lineage had been established by Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211) at Ralung Monastery in southern Tibet earlier in the same century; the name 'Drukpa' (literally 'of the dragon') derived from Tsangpa Gyare's sizable vision at the founding of Druk Sewa Jangchub Ling Monastery in which nine dragons rose from the earth. Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo received the Drukpa transmission from his master and, in his early adulthood, received the visionary instruction to bring the Drukpa lineage south across the Himalayan range to Bhutan.
Phajo arrived in Bhutan in the early 13th century — the foundational moment for the contemporary Bhutanese institutional religious tradition. He established the foundational Drukpa Kagyu sites at the principal locations above the Thimphu valley: **Tango Goemba** (literally 'horse-headed monastery', from the Hayagriva — the horse-headed deity — vision that Phajo had at the site) — established in 1222 on the hillside above the Thimphu valley; the principal Drukpa Kagyu shedra (monastic college) developed at this site across the subsequent centuries. **Cheri Goemba** — established as Phajo's meditation retreat site on the principal high hillside above the Thimphu valley. Phajo's four sons (collectively known as the Lhapa) extended the Drukpa transmission across multiple Bhutanese valleys; the transmission lineage was carried forward across the subsequent centuries until the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal's institutional consolidation in the 17th century. See [[zhabdrung-ngawang-namgyal|the Zhabdrung entry]] for the institutional consolidation.
Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo's legacy is the foundational Drukpa Kagyu tradition that the contemporary Bhutanese institutional religious framework operates within. **The country's name** — Druk Yul, literally 'the Land of the Dragon' — derives ultimately from Phajo's bringing of the Drukpa lineage to Bhutan; the linguistic-and-cultural identification of the country with the Drukpa lineage is one of the more striking features of contemporary Bhutanese national identity. **The contemporary Drukpa Kagyu institutional framework** — the Zhung Dratshang central monk body, the principal dzong-and-monastic establishments, the religious-and-cultural context that international visitors encounter — all operate within the transmission lineage that Phajo established eight centuries ago. **The principal sites** — Tango Goemba and Cheri Goemba above Thimphu — continue to operate as the Drukpa Kagyu teaching-and-retreat centres in contemporary Bhutan; the matched guide arranges visits for visitors with serious interest. See [[drukpa-kagyu|the Drukpa Kagyu theme]] for the broader institutional framework.
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