Bhutan · BT

Tashi Yangtse Old Dzong

Tashi Yangtse Old Dzong is one of the oldest and most revered monastic sites in eastern Bhutan, perched on a steep ridge above the confluence of the Dongdi Chhu and Kulong Chhu rivers in the town of Trashiyangtse. Originally built as a fortress in the 9th century and rebuilt in the 15th by the legendary treasure-revealer Pema Lingpa, the dzong gave this region its name — Trashiyangtse, meaning the fortress of auspicious fortune. It remains a living place of worship, housing sacred relics that locals consider too powerful to be moved. The site's greatest treasure is an eleven-faced statue of Chuchizhe (Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion), whose arrival is one of Bhutan's most beloved legends. The dzong also preserves a hundred volumes of gold-printed Kanjur scriptures, a treasure dagger, and the very boulder Pema Lingpa is said to have hurled at a water demon — still visible on the entrance wall today.