Thonphu Goenpa and the Tsebar Jarung Khashor Chorten

Two sites share the ridge above Tsebar in Khar gewog. Beside the Pemagatshel–Nganglam highway stands the Samdrup Choeling Jarung Khashor Chorten, a copy of Kathmandu’s Boudhanath. On the hilltop above it, 6 km and about half an hour up by road, is Thonphu Goenpa, a hermitage whose yellow temple the chorten’s own lama built.

The chorten

Locals call it the Tsebar Ngangrey Chorten, after the hill it stands on, at about 1,780 m (26.9851, 91.3641). Jarung Khashor is the Tibetan name of Boudhanath, and the likeness is plain: a whitewashed dome, a yellow band of Buddha niches, and a gilded square spire painted with eyes. A ring of smaller white chortens with gilded tops surrounds it, and lines of prayer flags run out from the spire.

It was built at the inspiration of Lama Sangay Dorji and his consort Sangay Wangzom, for the wellbeing of all sentient beings. Locals believe that prayers here earn the same merit as prayers at Boudhanath itself.

Thonphu Goenpa

Thonphu calls itself a hermitage and a Longchen Nyingthig centre, after the cycle of Nyingma teachings revealed by Jigme Lingpa. It stands at about 2,060 m, and its main temple is a three-storey yellow Zangdopelri, a model of Guru Rinpoche’s palace on the Copper-Coloured Mountain.

The national heritage register records Thonphu’s founder as Tshampa Kelzang, a retreat practitioner, in the 20th century. Memorial stupas here honour Lama Kelzang Dorji (1914–1984) and Lama Sangay Dorji (1943–2022).

Lama Sangay Dorji built the Zangdopelri in the late 1980s. Before it was finished, the money ran out. He went down to Samdrup Jongkhar, learned to make ritual trumpets, and sold them to finish the temple. He brought the craft home with him, and Tsebar lives by it still: see the dung and jaling makers of Tsebar.

Dodrupchen Rinpoche, head of the Longchen Nyingthig lineage, is said to have stayed and meditated here. The gewog is also known for its poe, incense sticks, made at Thonphu.

Khahor Goenpa is 4 km and about half an hour up the other road from the chorten. See things to do in Pemagatshel for the rest of the district.