Buddhism in Bhutan: The Monastic Body, Yojay and the Masters

Bhutan is the one country in the world where Vajrayana Buddhism is the national tradition: its Constitution names Buddhism as the country’s spiritual heritage. Its monastic body, the Zhung Dratshang, was founded by the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 1620s and has existed without a break since. It is led by His Holiness the Je Khenpo, Bhutan’s Chief Abbot — an office that dates to 1651, whose present holder, the 70th, was enthroned in 1996. The Constitution keeps religious institutions above politics and commits the state to supporting the monastic body.

The pages below follow that tradition from three directions: how the people of Bhutan have sustained it, the monument the country is raising together in 2026, and the masters of the wider Buddhist world who are coming to see it.

Yojay: the tradition of offering

For four centuries the monastic body has been sustained by the people’s offerings — grain and butter, sons sent to the monastery, fields given so that prayers would be said. Bhutan calls it yojay. The series, in reading order:

1. Buddhist Alms Giving — what two thousand years of offerings built across Asia, from Jetavana and Nalanda to the Tripitaka Koreana.
2. Yojay Around the World — the same idea in Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism and China.
3. Yojay in Bhutan — four hundred years of offering, from the Zhabdrung to the Land Act and the Constitution.
4. Yojay Today — the 2023 renewal by royal command, and a channel for givers anywhere in the world.
5. Yojay and Trust — why an offering needs somewhere safe to go, and why Bhutan can be that place.
6. Yojay From Abroad — the Bhutanese living overseas, and how they keep a place in the life of home.
7. Yojay in a Changing World — impermanence, remembrance, and Bhutan as guardian of the offering.

Project 108: 108 chortens in a single day

On 1 November 2026 — Lhabab Duechen — 108 Jangchub Chortens are to be raised along the Mau Chhu in Gelephu in one day, by tens of thousands of volunteers, with His Holiness the Je Khenpo leading the prayers.

• Project 108: The Plan and the Vision — where to begin.
• The Number 108 · 108 Chortens in Bhutan — the number, and Bhutan’s earlier lines of 108, from Songtsen Gampo to Dochula.
• Project 108 Relics — the zung that gives each chorten its heart.
• Project 108 and Zhabtog · Project 108 in One Day — the volunteers, and why it is done in a day.
• Project 108 by the Numbers · Great Monuments Today — against the Pyramid, the Great Wall and the Taj Mahal.
• Project 108 in Numbers — the whole project in one scroll.

The masters

Project 108 Masters tells who is coming to Gelephu and who has given. The Buddhist Masters in Bhutan profiles explain each great title and lineage and its ties to Bhutan — beginning with the Je Khenpo, and including the Karmapa, the Sakya Trizin, the Gaden Tripa, the Tai Situpa and the incarnations of Pema Lingpa, ancestor of Bhutan’s royal house.

The monastic body in the economy

How many monks are there in Bhutan? About seven thousand by official counts. The National Statistics Bureau’s Labour Force Survey of 2022 counted 7,408 people employed in monastic education (Paradox #22), and when the monastic body launched its pension scheme in 2023 it had more than 7,000 registered monks and nuns. Counting monastic workers outside the formal register, the catalogue puts Bhutan at roughly one monk for every hundred people.

A state that funds its monastic body from the national budget is unusual, and the catalogue examines what that means in numbers: Paradox #22 sets the monastic body against the banking system, and the FAQ Does Bhutan have more monks than bankers? answers the question directly.