Alison Melnick
| Type | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Tsurphu, མཚུར་ཕུ།འཚུར་ཕུ། |
| Period | 12th Century |
| Transliteration form | mtshur phu, ’tshur phu |
| Sectarian affiliation | Karma Kagyu |
| Source of information | Davidson, Ronald M. Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture. Columbia University Press, 2005. Gardner, Alexander "Khams pa Histories: Visions of People, Place, and Authority." In The Tibet Journal Vol. XXVIII, no. 3 Autumn 2003 pp. 61-96 Roerich, George N. The Blue Annals Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1996 (Reprint) Snellgrove, David, and Hugh Richardson. A Cultural History of Tibet Shambhala Press, Boston and London, 1995.Yeshi, Pedron and Jeremy Russell Cho-yang. The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture The Council of Religious and Cultural Affairs of H.H. the Dalai Lama, 1995. |
| Location | In Tolung, northwest of Lhasa. |
| Nation | China |
| Province | Tibet Autonomous Region |
| District | Tolung |
| Cultural location | Central Tibet |
| Location's language | Central Tibetan |
| Date founded | 1189 |
| Founder | The first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (dus gsum mkhyen pa, 1110-1193). |
| Blue Annals References | pp.197, 198, 199, 338, 476, 480, 485, 486, 487, 489, 490, 494, 498, 499, 500, 504, 506, 508, 510, 519, 524, 540, 544, 549, 600, 742, 810, 989, 1069, 1070. |
The history of Tsurphu monastery is closely linked with the history of the Karmapa incarnation lineage. One of the monasteries founded by the first Karmapa (who is said to have founded many monasteries in Central Tibet and Kham), the monastery is directly associated with the lineage of Gampopa. Tsurphu is the seat of the Karma Kagyu tradition, the practices of which focus on Gampopa's (Mahāmudrā based) teachings. Today the Karma Kagyu have a significant presence in Sikkim. The first Karma Kagyu monasteries built there were Ralang (1730) and Rumtek (1740). Rumtek was deemed to be the new seat of the Karmapa (replacing Tsurphu) by the sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. After becoming the new seat, Rumtek adopted a focus on practices previously centered at Tsurphu.
It seems that the most important aspect of Tsurphu in the Blue Annals is who went there to receive teachings, make offerings, and partake in rituals. The important practitioners of the Kagyu tradition are here described as extremely peripatetic, and all of them seem to have made at least one stop at Tsurphu during their years of religious education. The abbatial lineage at Tsurphu is believed by some to have been based on reincarnation from the monastery's inception (see Cho-yang, 1991). However, if the information in the Blue Annals is accurate, this was not initially the case. It seems that, at least for the first fifty years of the monastery's functioning, the abbots were either disciples or nephews of the Karmapa. This being said, the Karmapa lineage that has developed from this point is certainly based on the institution of the tulku. Throughout the Blue Annals, Tsurphu is mentioned as an important place for the reception of Kagyu teachings. Gö Lotsawa describes the monastery as a place where many prominent monks and practitioners went to receive teachings, take part in rituals, and make offerings. It is named as one of many monasteries founded by the first Karmapa, but is indicated as the most important among all of them. Tsurphu is mentioned at least thirty times in the Blue Annals, which speaks to its centrality within the Kagyu school. While it is difficult to tell whether the information in the Blue Annals reflects the actual state of Tsurphu in its early years (during the twelfth century), the accounts are certainly informative about how it was viewed during the author’s time. It is clear that Gö Lotsawa considered the monastery to be a historically central and stable bastion of Kagyu knowledge. Although it incorporates much history that is not central to the Kagyu tradition, the book does focus on Kagyu-affiliated places, people, and events. The amount of attention that Tsurphu receives in this work reflects the role of the monastery within this tradition.
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