108 Stupas: A Nation Counts Down to a King’s Vision

From first salaries and family savings to institutional sponsorships and international offerings, thousands are helping turn a King’s vision into 108 sacred monuments In a few weeks, 108 Jangchub Chortens will rise together along the Mau Chhu in Gelephu Mindfulness City. But the story of Project 108 did not begin with construction. It began with an invitation from His Majesty to the world. This was followed by a single offering. And then another. And another. A first salary. A family’s savings. A lifetime collection of coins. A business contribution. An institutional collection. A sponsorship from abroad. A small donation from a Bhutanese living thousands of kilometres away. And, ultimately, tens of thousands of people offering their hands. Month after month, these offerings have converged around a single vision. On November 1, that vision will take physical form when an estimated 40,000 volunteers gather across 108 sites to raise 108 Jangchub Chortens in a single day. His Majesty The King announced the project on February 21, 2026, calling on the nation to demonstrate what can be achieved when people stand together. “There is no limit to what we can achieve when we stand together,” His Majesty said. The response has turned Project 108 into something larger than a construction undertaking. It has become a collective offering involving people within Bhutan and beyond its borders. Thousands of offerings The official Project 108 offering register records thousands of individual contributions. The domestic register has received 7,287 offerings amounting to Nu 28.37 million, while 579 overseas offerings amount to USD 87,986.26. The numbers are significant, but the range of contributions tells an even more compelling story. There are large contributions running into millions of ngultrum. There are offerings of a few thousand. There are contributions of just over a hundred ngultrum. For some, the amount was not the point. The opportunity to participate was. One young Bhutanese contributed half of his first salary. For him, the contribution was a way of marking the beginning of his professional life with an offering. Another family contributed out of gratitude for support received during the difficult years of the pandemic. One contributor offered more than seven kilograms of coins collected over decades— an accumulation of personal memories transformed into a contribution to the 108 chortens. These are not merely financial transactions. They are personal stories entering a national project. The world joins the offering The response has also travelled beyond Bhutan. Bhutanese living overseas have contributed from different countries, with the official register recording hundreds of international offerings. The contributions range from modest individual donations to substantial sponsorships. For Bhutanese abroad, the project has created a way to participate in an undertaking unfolding thousands of kilometres away. A person who cannot travel to Gelephu can still contribute. A family living outside Bhutan can still sponsor a chorten. A Bhutanese community abroad can still become part of the offering. And international Buddhist communities have also responded. One of the most significant contributions has come through the Karma Leksheyling Foundation and its supporters, who are offering three Jangchub Chortens. The offering also includes illumination for the 108-chorten complex and lighting along the approximately 12-kilometre circumambulation path. Such contributions give Project 108 a dimension beyond national participation. The chortens are being built in Bhutan, but the offering has begun to cross geographical boundaries. People who may never have set foot in Gelephu are becoming connected to the project through their contributions. When institutions give together The fundraising has also brought institutions together. The Royal Bhutan Army, Royal Body Guards and Royal Bhutan Police jointly contributed Nu 20.19 million towards one chorten. The contribution represents people serving in different parts of the country, from remote posts to major infrastructure and national service assignments. The Ministry of Education and Skills Development has also made a collective contribution, bringing together people across the education sector. Other institutions, businesses, families, religious organisations and community groups have contributed in different ways. By June, many of the 108 chortens had already secured sponsorship, with each sponsorship requiring approximately Nu 20 million. But the project has never been defined only by its largest donors. Its character comes from the fact that large institutional contributions exist alongside thousands of small personal offerings. A contribution does not have to be large That may be one of the most important stories behind Project 108. A person contributing Nu 108 and a person contributing millions are participating in the same act of offering, even though the scale of their financial contribution is different. The project has allowed people to participate according to their circumstances. For some, the offering is financial. For others, it is material. For others, it is prayer. And for thousands, it will be labour. The official Project 108 initiative estimates that around 40,000 volunteers will participate in the construction. This is zhabto in its most visible form—people contributing their time and physical effort to a collective undertaking. The sacred heart While the physical structures are being prepared at Gelephu, another enormous undertaking has been taking place in Sarpang Dzong. Monks and Zung Lopons have been preparing the sacred contents that will go inside the 108 chortens. Sacred texts, mantras, ritual objects and relics are being prepared according to Buddhist traditions. His Holiness the Je Khenpo has offered sacred Ringsel for the project, adding another dimension to the spiritual preparation. The work is painstaking and largely invisible to the public. But when the chortens rise, it will be this spiritual preparation that gives the structures their deeper significance. The project therefore involves two forms of construction. One is visible— the building of 108 physical structures. The other is spiritual—the preparation of what will reside within them. Both will converge on November 1. 108 sites, one moment The physical scale of the undertaking is extraordinary. Each chorten will be approximately 15 metres high and positioned 108 metres apart. Together, they will form a continuous sacred procession along the Mau Chhu. The foundations and preparatory work are being completed before November 1 so that thousands of volunteers can participate in the final construction simultaneously. The challenge is enormous. One site cannot operate independently of the others. People have to arrive at the right locations. Materials have to be available. Teams have to know their responsibilities. Food, transport, accommodation, communications, safety and logistics all have to work across 108 sites. It is 108 construction sites operating as one. And that is precisely what makes the project different. When the hands come together On November 1, the first thing the world may notice will be the structures. But behind every chorten will be a much longer story. The story of the person who gave a first salary. The family that gave from its savings. The institution that collected among its members. The business that sponsored a chorten. The Bhutanese living abroad who sent money home. The international supporter who gave from another country. The Buddhist organisation that offered an entire chorten. The monk who spent months preparing sacred contents. And the volunteer who will travel to Gelephu to offer a day of physical labour. Their contributions are different. Their circumstances are different. Their countries may be different. But on November 1, they will converge in one place and one moment. The money will become part of the construction. The materials will become part of the monuments. The prayers will become part of their consecration. The labour will become part of their physical form. And the individual acts of generosity will become one collective offering. That is why the countdown to November 1 is not simply a countdown to the completion of 108 structures. It is the culmination of months of participation by thousands of people—within Bhutan and beyond it. When the 108 Jangchub Chortens finally rise along the Mau Chhu, they will stand as permanent structures. But behind them will be an invisible monument: the generosity of a people and the support of friends beyond Bhutan who chose, in their own ways, to become part of a Royal vision. On November 1, 108 chortens will rise. But the offering has already been made—in money, in prayers, in faith, in gratitude and, soon, in 40,000 pairs of hands. By Tandin Wangchuk Chamgang, Thimphu.