Gangteng Monastery

The Gangteng Monastery (Dzongkha: སྒང་སྟེང་དགོན་པ sometimes written "Gangtey Gonpa", is an important monastery of Nyingmapa school of Buddhism, the main seat of the Pema Lingpa tradition. located in the Wangdue Phodrang District in central Bhutan. The Monastery also known by the Gangten village that surrounds it, is in the Phobjika Valley where winter visitors – the Black-necked Cranes – visit central Bhutan to roost and in the process circle the monastery three times on arrival and repeat the process while returning to Tibet. The Monastery has a hoary history traced to early 17th century, backed to prophecies made by the well known Terton (treasure finder) Pema Lingpa in the late 15th century.

The Monastery is one of the main seats of the religious tradition based on Pema Lingpa's revelations and one of the two main centres of the Nyingmapa school of Buddhism in the country.

A Nyingma monastic college or shedra, Do-ngag Tösam Rabgayling, has been established above the village.

The descent of the first king of Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuk of the Wangchuk Dynasty of Bhutan, which continues to rule Bhutan is traced to the clan of the Dungkhar Choje, a subsidiary of the clan of Khouchung Choje whose founder was Kunga Wangpo, the fourth son of Pema Lingpa.