About Lamay Monastery

Lamay Monastery or Lamay Gonpa is a Buddhist monastery in Bumthang, Bhutan. It is located four kilometers above the Jakar Dzong and was built by the Trongsa Penlop, Sonam Drugel, the great-grandfather of King Ugyen Wangchuck in the 19th century. Wangchuck restored the building and it was used as the residence of his two daughters. The palace’s main tower was destroyed due to structural problems. Today the building houses the Forestry Institute.
Bhutanese Buddhist monk looking out the window of a monastery

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Bhutan

and convents are common in Bhutan. Both monks and nuns keep their heads shaved and wear distinguishing maroon robes. Their days are spent in study and meditation but also in the performance of rituals honoring various bodhisattvas, praying for the dead, and seeking the intercession of bodhisattvas on behalf of the ill. Some of their prayers involved chants and singing accompanied by conch shell trumpets, trumpets made from human thighbones, metal horns up to three meters .
Samye Monastery in Dranang

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries around the world

Tibetan are works of architectural, pictorial, decorative and landscape art. Although there were many householder-yogis in Tibet, monasticism was the foundation of Buddhism in Tibet. There were over 6,000 monasteries in Tibet the Cultural Revolution. Since then most of the major monasteries have been at least partially re-established, while many others remain in ruins. Mongolian Buddhism derives from the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. In Mongolia during the 1920s, approximately one third of males were .