Yangpachen monastery is located at 85 km north from Lhasa, near very popular Yangpachen Hot spring. The Monastery is the seat of Shamarpas of Karma Kagyu Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
History of Yangpachen Monastery
The monastery was found by the forth Shamarpa in years 1404 AD. The Sharmapa lived at the place from 1435 AD to 1524 AD for seventy-two years at the place and found the monastery. According to Oral history from the elderly people in the site, The monastery was named after a monastery in India called Yangpachen Vihar. The part of the metal roof belongs to the Indian monastery, it was brought to Tibet and renovated to fit on the monastery. Since it used the roof part from the Indian monastery called Yangpachen, the monastery in Tibet used the same name after it.
During the initial construction of the monastery, the area of the main assembly hall and the residence of the Rinpoche covers about 1520 Square meters and there was a huge court-yard, it was surrounded by hundred and ninety-seven monk quarters. it was constructed with a financial contribution from Ri-poon Dhepa Dhonyoe Dorjee. All the labours were from U region and the local nomad populations. The constructions of the entire structure took four and a half month to complete.
During the year 1618, the join military force of Tsanpa Dese Phuntsok Namgyal and Karmapa choeyon attract region of U including Lhasa and destroy the Sera monastery and Drepung monastery. For the revenge of destroying the Yellow hat’s monasteries, Mongol Gushi Khan wage a war against Tsanpa Dese Phuntsok Namgyal. There was the huge destruction of the monastery during the war. Later there was a full renovation of the monastery until the ninth Shamarpa.
The Controversy
The tenth Shamarpa was a brother of sixth Penchen Lama, after the death of his younger brother Panchen Lama, there was a conflict between the store in charge of Tashi lhunpo monastery and the Shamarpa. Due to which Shamarpa, surrender to the King of Nepal Badamaharajdhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah and brought Nepalese force to invade Tibet in the year 1788. The Nepalese invading force made huge destruction to the Tashi Lhunpo monastery. To smash this invading force out of Tibet, the Manchu emperor of China has sent troops to Tibet. When Nepalese force was defeated, the tenth Shamarpa poisoned himself to Death.
After the Death of tenth Sharmapa, the central government of Manchu emperor and the local government of Khashag force ban in looking for tenth Shamarpa’s reincarnation, and there were only about ten monks left in the monastery, The prime minister Tasag Tenpa has brought about forty monks from his monastery to the Yangpachen monastery and convert the monastery into the yellow head sect of Gelugpa. The tomb chapel and the residence of Sharmapa was close until year 1947. In Wikipedia, the Gelugpas has confiscated the state monastery and they buried the hat of Sharmapa and prohibited recognition of future incarnation. After that all the restriction impose on Sharmapa institution was lifted. Elderly are telling us due to the poor financial situation of the monastery, other unknown situation, monastery was not able to find the Sharmapa‘s reincarnation.
The monastery has the Kagyur and Tengyur written in Gold at the time of forth Sharmapa, Many relic and the religious items made during the successive Sharmapas. The Yanpachen monastery was very famous for its wall paintings, according to the Biography (Namthar) of forth Shamarpa. Those paintings are the work great Thangka master, who is known for starting their own style and school of painting
Tourist guide to Yangpachen Monastery
Near the Yangpachen monastery, there is a Yangpachen Goe-themal station with a hot spring. It is a very good idea to start you day early and visit the hot spring bath. The hot spring is said to be have a medicinal value and can treat patient with joint problems.
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