Paro Taktsang or Tigers Nest Monastery

According to the legend related to this Taktsang which literally means "Tiger's lair", it is believed that Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) flew to this location from Tibet on the back of a tigress from Khenpajong. This place was consecrated to tame the Tiger demon. And Rinpoche hence introduced Buddhism to Bhutan.

To go into the monestary, we had to leave all our bags, cameras and phones behind. The security was a lot tighter at this Monastary than anywhere else we went.  There are a good amount of tourists, but they have only been allowed to enter the monestary since 2000.  In 1998, almost the entire monestary burned down, the cause of the fire was unknown and lots of relics and the lives of the caretakers were lost. It took 2+ years and the generosity of many nations and donors to rebuild the monestay. All the temples were repainted, and new alters and artifacts were brought to the site. Pretty amazing!

 

Tiger's Nest consists of a handful of monestary buildings, intricately woven into the side of the cliff.  Literally some of the wall paintings look like they are 3-d since they are painted directly onto the rock cliff face/wall of the temple.  Only a half dozen monks live there to care for the space. Tigers Nest is built above the sacred caves where legend holds that the Guru Rinpoche flew in on the back of a tiger, and meditated, and left sacred artifacts (scrolls and statues, no one knows?) behind.

 

We visited 4 of the inner temples, all dedicated to different Buddhas, dieties, and incarnations of prominent figures who brought Buddhism to Bhutan. One of the temples had a trap door in the floor, where you could look down into the upper part of the sacred cave, the hole is the shape of the auspicious symbol of the three sided blade.

Since we couldn't take pictures inside.. These are the pics I took just outside Tiger's Nest.