Ngawang Namgyal's son and stepbrother, in 1651 and 1680, respectively, succeed him.

They start their reigns as minors under the control of religious and civil regents and rarely exercise authority in their own names.

For further continuity, the concept of multiple reincarnation of the first shabdrung—in the form of either his body, his speech, or his mind—is invoked by the Je Khenpo and the druk desi, both of whom want to retain the power they had accrued through the dual system of government.

The last person recognized as the bodily reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal will die in the mid-eighteenth century, but speech and mind reincarnations, embodied by individuals who accede to the position of shabdrung, will be recognized into the early twentieth century.

The power of the state religion also increases with a new monastic code that will remain in effect in the early twenty-first century.

The compulsory admission to monastic life of at least one son from any family having three or more sons is instituted in the late seventeenth century.

In time, however, the State Council becomes increasingly secular as do the successive druk desi, ponlop, and dzongpon, and intense rivalries develop among the ponlop of Tongsa and Paro and the dzongpon of Punakha, Thimphu, and Wangdiphodrang.