GANGTENG GOMPA (monastery) is a historic monastery in the Black Mountain region of Bhutan. Built in the early 17th century, the monastery was established by Gyalse Rigdzin Pema Thinley, the grandson of the canonized Bhutanese “treasure discoverer,” Pema Lingpa. Today, Gangteng Gompa is the largest Nyingmapa monastery in Western Bhutan.

Buddhist mythology recalls the narrative of an ancient guru who hid terma (sacred treasures of Buddhist wisdom) for select terton (treasure finders) to reveal in the future when the time was right. The terma were hidden for their protection so that the terton could transmit Buddha’s teachings through the generations should his knowledge ever be lost or destroyed.

Pema Lingpa, the grandfather of the monastery’s founder, was understood as an incarnation of that ancient guru. Following a series of revelations, he astoundingly unearthed over 100 terma across Bhutan in the mid-1470s.

Tashi Delek (Good Wishes)