Ta Rimochen Lhakhang
Ta Rimochen — also written Tag Remochen or Tang Rimochen — is a temple at the foot of a cliff in the Tang valley, built by Pema Lingpa in the 15th century. The name means an impression of tiger’s stripes, and it refers to the rock face behind the building. Allow 30–45 minutes; entry is included in your tour.
The rock is the point
Most temples in Bhutan are built where something happened. This one is built where something is visible.
The huge rock face behind the temple carries black and yellow markings like the stripes of a tiger’s coat, clear enough that the whole site is named for them. That is what rimo means — a mark or a stripe — and it is worth saying plainly, because the name is very widely mistranslated as “footprint of the tiger”, including on this page until recently. There are footprints here, and they are a separate thing.
The separate thing: the rock carries hand, foot and body imprints attributed to Guru Rinpoche and to Yeshe Tshogyal, along with religious texts and symbols marked into the stone, a cremation ground, and a stone tub said to have been the Guru’s bath. By tradition the Guru meditated here with his two consorts, Mandarava and Yeshe Tshogyal, and the imprints are theirs.
Pilgrims come to bring their heads close to the imprints for blessing. It is one of the most physically direct sacred sites in Bumthang — there is no image to look at, only marks in rock that people have been touching for a very long time.
When to go, and how it fits your day
Ta Rimochen belongs to a Tang valley day, and it is the second stop: Mebartsho first, then here, then Pema Choeling Nunnery and Ogyen Choling at the head of the valley. It is a short walk up from the road, with steps at the temple.
March to May and September to November for the road and the light. See things to do in Bumthang for how the Tang day compares with the Choekor and Chumey ones.
Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off inside, and no photographs in the temple.
A little history
The temple belongs to the Nyingma school and was built by Pema Lingpa, the Bumthang-born terton whose fingerprints are all over this district — the pool at Mebartsho, the monastery at Tamshing, and this cliff.
The site itself is older than the building. Guru Rinpoche came to Bumthang at the invitation of King Sindhu Raja — the story told at Kurjey, and the founding event of Buddhism in Bhutan — and the marks in this rock belong to that visit. Pema Lingpa built a temple at the foot of the cliff eight hundred years later, which is the usual sequence in Bumthang: the place first, the building long afterwards.
Tours that visit Bumthang
Frequently asked questions
What does Ta Rimochen mean?
An impression of tiger's stripes. Rimo is a mark, drawing or stripe — the name comes from the black and yellow striped markings on the huge rock face behind the temple, not from a footprint. It is often written Tag Remochen or Tang Rimochen.
What are the imprints at Ta Rimochen?
Separately from the tiger stripes, the rock carries hand, foot and body imprints attributed to Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tshogyal, along with rock markings of religious texts and symbols, a cremation ground and a stone bathing tub attributed to the Guru. Pilgrims come to touch their heads to them.
Who built Ta Rimochen?
How does Ta Rimochen fit into a Tang valley day?
It is the second stop, after Mebartsho and before Pema Choeling and Ogyen Choling at the head of the valley. Allow 30–45 minutes.
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