The Chuchizhe: A Statue That Chose Its Own Home

The central tower of the Old Dzong enshrines the Chuchizhe — a magnificent eleven-faced statue of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Local tradition holds that this statue did not arrive by human hands. An old woman named Shali Teng, gathering firewood near a cypress tree a few kilometres north of the dzong, heard whispers coming from the base. Investigating, she found the Chuchizhe accompanied by a statue of Manjushri and a small stupa. When she asked who had left them there, the Chuchizhe replied: 'No one brought us here, we flew from Lhasa.'↗

The statue brought supernatural fortune to whoever possessed it — but only here. A Bumthang chieftain who seized the Chuchizhe found his valley beset by storms, sickness, and chaos until he consulted the Zhabdrung, who revealed that something new and unwelcome had been placed on his altar. He returned it immediately. An earthquake that nearly collapsed the entire dzong left the statue missing, only for villagers to discover it in a nearby cave, where it reportedly said: 'I'm fine here in the cave.' The statue has remained on this ridge ever since.↗↗

Other Sacred Treasures

Beyond the Chuchizhe, the Old Dzong holds a remarkable collection of sacred objects. A set of 100 volumes of the Kanjur — Buddhist scriptures with their opening pages printed in gold leaf — arrived here as a blood-price of sorts: after a killing that a local chieftain could not pay in coin, he surrendered the volumes housed at a neighbouring chapel instead. These texts are considered so potent they are recited aloud at least once each year.↗

The dzong also preserves a Terphur (treasure dagger) from Pema Lingpa, and most viscerally, the Dam Lung — a boulder that the Terton is said to have hurled at a demon terrorising the Dongdi Chhu river below. The subduing stone is still embedded in the wall at the main entrance, a physical anchor for the legend visible to every visitor who walks through.↗↗

Visiting the Old Dzong

The dzong was comprehensively renovated and reconsecrated in 2005 with a full Rabney ceremony performed by His Holiness the Je Khenpo, including a new Kuenra (main temple hall), monks' quarters, a courtyard, and a shrine to the local deity. The setting — on a ridge where two rivers converge below the walls — gives it a dramatic perch characteristic of the great Bhutanese fortress-monasteries.↗↗

If your timing aligns, the Dongdi Tshechu is performed here on the 15th and 16th days of the 8th month of the Bhutanese calendar (typically late November or December), when masked dances transform the dzong courtyard into a living mandala. A short walk from the dzong also reveals the village of Pemaling, where one can still see the crumbling walls of the hermitage where Pema Lingpa himself meditated.↗↗

Trashiyangtse is reached by road from Trashigang, roughly 55 kilometres north (about two hours' drive). The town sits at around 1,800 metres elevation, making it one of the higher settlements in eastern Bhutan. Combined with the nearby Chorten Kora stupa and the district's celebrated wood-turning and paper-making traditions, the Old Dzong anchors a compact but culturally dense day in far eastern Bhutan.↗

Why It Matters

Tashi Yangtse Old Dzong is the site that gave an entire district its name. It represents the layered history of eastern Bhutan — 9th-century castles, 15th-century saints, 17th-century military campaigns, and 21st-century consecration — all compressed onto a single hillside ridge where two rivers meet. Its relics carry the particular quality of objects that locals believe have will and voice of their own, making the visit less a museum tour than an encounter with a still-active sacred landscape.↗↗