KYICHU LHAKHANG

It is one of the most renowned temples, as it is the oldest in the kingdom. It would have been built at the time of the Tibetan king, Songtsen Gampo (7th century). According to tradition, this king had two wives: a Nepalese and a Tibetan. When the former visited him, she brought with her a very valuable Buddha statue. However, during the journey, the statue fell to the ground and no one was able to remove it. The astrologers commissioned by the king explained to her that a demon with a body covering the entire surface of the Himalayan regions was holding the statue. In order to free it, 108 temples had to be built on the same day in all the Himalayan regions at specific points (representing acupuncture points). Kyichu would have been built on the left ankle. The temple was gradually forgotten until its rediscovery in the 16th century.

A surrounding wall encloses the oldest part, on which a recent temple, dedicated to Padmasambhava, was built in 1968 by the Queen Mother for her master Dilgo Khentze. The oldest chapel contains a statue of Jo Rinpoche (the crowned Buddha) flanked by eight bodhisattvas and Avalokiteshvara with 1,000 arms. Beautiful 16th-century murals depict the Arhat (disciples of the Buddha who attained enlightenment) and the founders of the temple. In front of the altar, turquoise and coral inlays indicate the place of prostration. One can see the knee marks left by the faithful over the centuries..