Chimi Lhakhang, also known as Chime Lhakhang or Monastery or temple, is a Buddhist monastery in Chukha District, Bhutan.[1] Located near Lobeysa, it stands on a round hillock and was built in 1499 by the 14th Drukpa hierarch, Ngawang Choegyel, after the site was blessed by the "Divine Madman" the maverick saint Drukpa Kinley (1455–1529) who built a chorten on the site.[2]
He is also the saint who advocated the use of phallus symbols as paintings on walls and as flying carved wooden phalluses on house tops at four corners of the eves. The monastery is the repository of the original wooden symbol of phallus that Kunley brought from Tibet. This wooden phallus is decorated with a silver handle and is used to bless people who visit the monastery on pilgrimage, particularly women seeking blessings to beget children.[3][4] The tradition at the monastery is to strike female pilgrims on the head with a 10 inch (25 cm) wooden phallus (erect penis).[5] Traditionally symbols of an erect penis in Bhutan have been intended to drive away the evil eye and malicious gossip.[6]
