Daklha Gampo is a Kagyu

Kagyu

The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...

 monastery founded in 1121 CE

Common Era

Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

 by Je Gampopa

Gampopa

Gampopa Sonam Rinchen "Sonam Rinchen from Gampo" — who was equally well known in Tibet as Dagpo Lhaje , Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche , and Da'od Zhonnu , — establishedthe Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism today, as an...

 (1079-1153), the disciple of the famous and much-loved bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

, Jetsun Milarepa (c. 1052—c. 1135) It is located in Gyatsa County in the old district of Dakpo in southern Tibet on land sanctified as a geomantic power-place ('head of the ogress') by the first Tibetan emperor, Songtsen Gampo

Songtsen Gampo

Songtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo (Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ་, Wylie: Srong-btsan sGam-po, 569–649?/605–649? was the founder of the Tibetan Empire (Tibetan: Bod; ), by tradition held to be the thirty-third ruler in his dynasty. In the Chinese records, his name is given as 'Sōngzàngānbù'...

 (605 or 617? - 649), and made a repository of terma

Terma (religion)

Terma are key Tibetan Buddhist and Bön teachings, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a...

by Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...

.

Description

The monastery is located on a ridge to the northeast of the eight-peaked Dalka Gampo mountain range (after which it was named), on the right bank of the Gyabpurong River just north of its junction with the Brahmaputra.

History

After Gampopa received the Kargyu teachings and transmissions from Milarepa. He established himself at Daklha Gampo after Milarepa had died. He taught several students who became instrumental in the flourishing of the Kagyu lineage. Daklha Gampo became the main Kagyu centre for Mahamudra

Mahamudra

Mahāmudrā literally means "great seal" or "great symbol." It "is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism" which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism."The name refers to the way one who...

 studies and practice in Tibet.

During the 14th century, the great terton

Tertön

A tertön is a discoverer of ancient texts or "terma". Many tertöns are considered incarnations of the 25 main disciples of Padmasambhava. A vast system of transmission lineages developed...

, Karma Lingpa

Karma Lingpa

Karma Lingpa , a great tertön, is embraced as a reincarnation of Chokro Luyi Gyaltsen , a great master, and accepted as the revealer of the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead. Karma Lingpa took body in southeast Tibet as the eldest son of Nyida Sangye , the great Tantric practitioner...

, unearthed the famous Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol Chenmo) by Padmasambhava at Mount Gampodar which is within the territory of the monastery.

The Dzungar Mongols

Mongols

Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...

 destroyed the monastery in 1718, but it was quickly rebuilt. It was again totally destroyed after the Chinese invasion in 1959, but some chapels have since been restored and there are still the original images of Avalokiteshvara and Cakrasamvara.