Taktshang is the most famous of monasteries in Bhutan. It hangs on a cliff at 3,120 metres (10,200 feet), some 700 meters (2,300 feet) above the bottom of Paro valley.
"The path of enlightenment is lonely and narrow for monks at Taktshang Monastery, who take turns meditating alone in a cliffside retreat for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days. Taktshang, the Tiger's Den, is where the great Guru Rimpoche, who first brought Buddhism to Bhutan, is said to have arrived on a flying tiger in the eighth century."
The monastery (goemba in Bhutanese) was built in its present form in 1692. It suffered a devastating fire of unknown origin during the night of April 19, 1998. Speculation is that the fire was caused either by lightening or an overturned butter lamp. Old photographs and diaries were used to make the reconstruction as close to the original as possible, though there was little documentation of the wall paintings and other artwork housed inside.
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