Namdruk monastery, also known as 'Druk Gompa', was the Dragon Lineage's second monastic seminary, founded by the first Gyalwang Drukpa Tsangpa Gyare in 1206. The lineage's first established monastery was Ralung (Shedrub Chokhor Ling), also founded by Tsangpa Gyare in 1193, following the inspiration he received from his yidam, Chakrasamvara and his guru, Lingchen Repa. Tsangpa Gyare later established Namdruk as the main seat of the lineage.

The reason why the lineage is known as 'Druk', which means 'Dragon' in Tibetan, can be traced back to the establishment of Namdruk monastery. When the first Gyalwang Drukpa Tsangpa Gyare arrived at the holy place where his root guru, Lingchen Repa, had instructed him to build a monastery, nine dragons roared up in the sky with a loud clap of thunder and white flowers rained down. To signify this auspicious occurrence, Tsangpa Gyare decided to name his lineage 'Drukpa', which literally means 'Lineage of the Dragons'. The spot where the monastery was built also took its name after this event, and was called 'Nam-Druk', which means 'Sky Dragon'. Prior to this, the location was not known by any particular designation.

During the lifetime of the fourth Gyalwang Drukpa Kunkhyen Pema Karpo, the main seat of the Drukpa lineage was moved to Druk Sangag Choeling Monastery, in Jar province of Tibet. The prominence of Namdruk was henceforth greatly reduced despite its original significance. Nevertheless, to this day, Namdruk has continued to be an extremely important heritage site to all the lineage masters and followers of the Drukpa Lineage.

As the monastery was totally destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and although we have built some small buildings to let some of my monks stay and practice, it is very sad for me to know that many practitioners are having a lot of difficulties even trying to stay in the limited compound of in the limited compound of Namdruk. Therefore I have promised myself that within this life, I will do my best to restore Namdruk so that we all can enjoy the great blessing left behind by our forefathers and to remind ourselves of our connection with the lineage and the profound teachings that have been transmitted from Tsangpa Gyare to the Drukpa heroes of current times.

“There is an immediate need to begin restoring several Drukpa heritages, and Namdruk is first on my list. Please contact Druk Foundation in Hong Kong (info@drukpa-hk.org) if you wish to help me and my lineage realise our dreams.”