Chimi Lhakhang Monastery (Fertility Temple)

Chimi Lhakhang Monastery, also called Chime Lhakhang, is a well-known Buddhist monastery on top of a hill in Punakha.

Credits: @lualuali

Bhutan's 14th Drukpa hierarchy, Ngawang Choegyel, commissioned the building of the monastery in the late 15th century. Prior to the construction, the compound was blessed by Lama Kunley.

Lama Kunley was infamously known as the “Mad Saint” due to his eccentric and unusual methods of teaching Buddhism. He embraced singing, humorous and extreme behaviours which many regarded as bizarre and shocking.

He later promoted the wide use of phallus symbols as wall paintings and wooden phalluses on house roofs. The monastery has since become the storehouse of the original wooden phallus that Kunley brought back from Tibet. Enhanced with a silver grip, it was used to bless people who visit the temple.

Over the years, women have been coming to the monastery looking for fertility blessings to conceive children. It has become a tradition to hit visitors on the head with a 25-cm wooden, bone, or ivory phallus. There's a belief that this practice would improve fertility, especially for women.