Shabdrung Kuchoe

Secular holiday : The Shabdrung (also Zhabdrung) is the most important tulku lineage in Bhutan, equivalent in many ways to the Dalai Lama lineage of Tibet. The lineage traces through the founder of the country, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (b. 1594 -d 1651), a high Drukpa Kagyu lama who was the first to unify the warring valley kingdoms under a single rule. In Bhutan the Shabdrung is revered as the third most important personality behind Guru Rimpoche and the Buddha.