zhabdrung ngawang namgyal

 Ngawang Namgyal (later granted the honorific Zhabdrung Rinpoche, approximately "at whose feet one submits") (Tibetan: ཞབས་དྲུང་ངག་དབང་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: zhabs drung ngag dbang rnam rgyal; alternate spellings include Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel; 1594–1651) and known colloquially as The Bearded Lama, was a Tibetan Buddhist lama and the unifier of Bhutan as a nation-state. In addition to unifying the various warring fiefdoms for the first time in the 1630s, he also sought to create a distinct Bhutanese cultural identity separate from the Tibetan culture from which it was derived However, following a misunderstanding Zhabdrung Rinpoche and his party had with an important Karma Kagyu lama, Pawo Tsugla Gyatsho (1568–1630), the Tsang Desi demanded that compensation be paid, and that the sacred religious relics of Ralung—such as the Rangjung Kharsapani—should be surrendered to him so they could be given to the rival Gyalwang Drukpa incarnate, Gyalwa Pagsam Wangpo.

The Tsang Desi prepared to send covert armed guards to arrest Zhabdrung Rinpoche and enforce his demands. In 1616, facing arrest and following visions (in which it is said that the chief guardian deities of Bhutan offered him a home), Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal left Tibet to establish a new base in western Bhutan, founding Cheri Monastery at the head of Thimphu valley.

In 1629, he built Simtokha Dzong at the entrance to Thimphu valley; from this dzong, he could exert control over traffic between the powerful Paro Zhabdrung Rinpoche consolidated control over western Bhutan, subduing rivals belonging to the Lhapa, a branch of the Drikung Kagyu sect, which had built some of the original dzongs in Bhutan, including Punakha Dzong in 1637–1638. The Drukpa Kagyu, the Lhapa Kagyu, and the Nenyingpa had all controlled parts of western Bhutan since the twelfth century. Later, Zhabdrung Rinpoche would conquer and unify all of Bhutan, but would allow the ancient, Nyingma sect to continue in central and eastern Bhutan (today the Nyingmapa comprise approximately thirty percent of Bhutan's monks, even though they are privately funded while the Southern Drukpa Kagyu is supported as the established state religion of Bhutan).

In 1627, the first European visitors to Bhutan—the Portuguese Jesuits Estevao Cacella and João Cabral—found the Zhabdrung to be a compassionate and intelligent host, of high energy and fond of art and writing. In keeping with his position as a high lama, he was also meditative, and had just completed a three-year, silent retreat. The Zhabdrung was proud to have the Jesuits as guests of his court, and was reluctant to grant them permission to leave—offering to support their proselytizing efforts with manpower and church-building funds—but they pressed on to Tibet in search of the apostate church said to be isolated in the heart of central Asia (see Nestorian Stele).^{[citation needed]}valley to the west and Trongsa valley to the east.ch it was derived.