I've already hinted at writing more about the Tiger's Nest or Taktsang in Dzongkha (Bhutanese) in my blogpost on banknotes in Bhutan [1]. I've visited Taktsang twice – in 2000 and in 2023. For my second trip to Bhutan I had planned to go there in the 2020, but Corona made airtraffic to india impossible, but I've written on Bhutan in 2020 and there has been a short passage on Taktsang, too [2], which I cite here again.
Paro Taktsang Dzongkha: སྤ་གྲོ་སྟག་ཚང་) is better known as Tiger's Nest in the west; for more name look up the Wikipedia article, from which I take much of the information [3]. Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) meditated and practiced in one of the 13 caves (Taktsang Senge Samdup cave), later the monastery complex was built around this cave on the cliffside of the upper Paro valley in 1692 and by and by it became a sacred Vajrayana Himalayan Buddhist site. On April 19, 1998 (2 1/2 years before I visited Taktsang for the first time [2]) a fire broke out in the main building of the monastery complex. The cause of the fire is unclear, but an electrical short-circuiting or flickering butter lamps were discussed. But everything has been reconstructed.
A legend tells us, that Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) flew from Singye Dzong to these caves on the back of a tigress. I've found a picture from a trip to Tibet in 2018, which illustrates this legend. In an alternative legend a former wife of an emperor transformed herself into a tigress and carried Guru Rinpoche on her back from Tibet to the Taktsang and so the place got its name.
Desi Tenzin Rabgye (1638–96), the successor of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594-1651, the founder of Bhutan), laid the foundation for building the temple dedicated to Guru Rinpoche and therefore called the Temple of the Guru with Eight Names, which refers to Padmasambhava's Eight Manifestations in which he emerged after meditating in the cave metioned above.
Over time the Taktsang Monastery has attracted lots of pilgims and tourists, so that access is restricted now. You can't take matches or lighters into the temple area. Good idea! You can only take photographs from the outside and have to leave your bag with camera etc. outside.
And over time the buildings have changed. Unfortunately the picture in my copy of J. Claude White's book is reprinted as a grey mass, but I tried to get most out of the picture. I include here pictures of the trip in the year 2000, from now and a postcard, I've sent to myself. I'm very unhappy that only now I realized that there are all in all 108 views of Taktsang in a series of postcards. I have a faible for postcards as one of my grandfathers had been a great collector.
Most probably you will be able to visit the Taktsang as with 200 US$ visitor's tax per day mass tourism will not invade Bhutan. But the new track up hill is steep and strenuous. The old tack had been easier, at least I remember it this way. There is a track for mules, but only about half way, it ends near the kiosk / restaurant, where one has a nice view of Taktsang and one may take a refreshment. The track goes up and then down again and up again. You need to be sure of step. And don't forget, you hike at an altitude of about 3,000 m. Having said this, I enjoyed the hike, being at the monastery, but also being down again to have a nice picknick.
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Padmasambhava on the tiger -
picture taken in Gyantse, Tibet
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Taktsang in J. Claude White's book
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Taktsang in 2000
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| Taktsang in 2000 |
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| Taktsang in 2023 |
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| Taktsang in 2023 |
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View No. 9 of the 108 views of Taktsang
(postcard sent from Bhutan)
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Links and Annotations:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/04/bhutanese-banknotes-and-their-images.html
[2] Glimpses into Bhutan in the Year 2000 – A Travel Diary Part 7 / 15th of October
We were on the way to the Tiger's Nest / Thaktsang Lhakhang. The path was easy [2a], but difficult due to the altitude (3,000 m). We passed the lookout point just before the cafeteria. There I met a young Australian woman from Perth who had a permit for Tiger's Nest. We went on with two pilgrims from Thimphu. The path came close to a waterfall. Women carried stones for the new building. I stopped for a moment at the ceremony in the new walls and didn't go in straight away, listened to the drums and the music. Then I went on with the three women to whom an old monk opened the old Lhakhang, which is shown in J.C. White's book [2b]. I looked at everything in peace, while the Australian completely freaked out and threw herself down. Later she procured a white ribbon for the sanctuary and asked to be allowed to do her Tibetan prostration exercises there. Everything had been certainly very meritorious. At least it got me into the heart of the Tiger's Nest. On the way down I have been stopped by the clerk of the monastery (“I'm also a policeman”). He had previously had a dispute with C. [a friend, who did not want to hike up to Taktsang], which I didn't know at the time. Of course I didn't have a permit. I followed the Australian. I was able to reassure him because I assured him that I didn't want to cause him any trouble. I remember one argument: stones could fall down the mountain. Well, nothing can happen to you if you have a permit.
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/09/glimpses-into-bhutan-in-year-2000_10.html
[2a] The new path is strenuous and not easy!
[2b] J(ohn). Claude White: Sikhim & Bhutan: Twenty-One Years On The North-East Frontier, 1887-1908. Edward Arnold (Publ.). London 1909. Reprinted New Delhi 1999. Again available as Paperback, 2012: ASIN: B00AWKMGQY. The picture of Taktsang is opposite of page 128.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paro_Taktsang
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