Tsurphu

Some 70 km northwest of Lhasa, Tsurpu was founded in 1189 by the First Karmapa, Dsun Khyenpa, who was a student of Gampopa, one of the two major disciples of Milarepa. Before he died, he gave instructions on how to find his rebirth, introducing thereby the tradition of the recognized tulkus. His reincarnation was born in 1204 as Karma Pakshi and came to Tsurpu when he was 43 years old. In 1256 he was invited to the visit Mongkhe khan, the head khan of the Mongul Empire. Mongke became a disciple of the Karmapa and gave him the title Pakshi, which means master in Mongolian. At the time of the Chinese invasion, Tsurphu was the headquarters of the Karma Kagyu order in Tibet and was the home of more than a 1000 monks.

The 16^th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpai Dorge escaped Tibet and lived in exile in Bumtek Sikkim, from where he directed the world-wide activities of the Karma Kagyu order. He died in Zion, Illinois in 1981. On September 26, 1992, the Seventeenth Karmapa, the eight-year-old Ugyen Tinley, was enthroned at Tsurpu.

Extensively destroyed by the Chinese, the reconstruction of the monastery has been taking place since 1983-4 through the efforts of Drupon Dechen Rinpoche and the Hawaiian based Tsurpu Foundation.  

Across the river from the monastery is the large walled area built for the huge Tsurpu tangka.

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