Tsurphu

Tsurphu Monastery
Tsurphu Monastery
Tibetan transcription(s)
Tibetan	མཚུར་ཕུ་དགོན་པ
Wylie transliteration	mtshur phu dgon pa
Pronunciation in IPA	[[tsʰuːpʰu]]
THL	Tsurphu Gömpa
Chinese transcription(s)
Simplified	楚布寺
Pinyin	Chǔbù Sì
Coordinates	29°43′36″N 90°34′30″E / 29.72667°N 90.57500°E / 29.72667; 90.57500Coordinates: 29°43′36″N 90°34′30″E / 29.72667°N 90.57500°E / 29.72667; 90.57500
Monastery information
Location	Gurum, Doilungdêqên District, Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region
Founded by	Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama
Date renovated	1980
Type	Tibetan Buddhist
Sect	Kagyu
Lineage	Karma Kagyu

Tsurphu Monastery (Tibetan: མཚུར་ཕུ་དགོན་པ or Tölung Tsurphu (Tibetan: སྟོད་ལུང་མཚུར་ཕུ, "Tsurphu of Tölong") is a gompa which serves as the traditional seat of the Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located in Gurum in Doilungdêqên District, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, 70 kilometres (43 mi) from Lhasa.

The monastery is about 4,300 metres (14,100 ft) above sea level. It was built in the middle of the valley facing south with high mountains surrounding the complex.

Tsurphu is a 300-square-meter (3,200 sq ft) complex with walls up to 4 meters (13 ft) thick. The gompa, the traditional seat of the Karmapa lamas, is about 28 kilometres (17 mi) up the Dowo Lung Valley on the north side of the river. The original walls of the main building were up to 4 meters thick and 300 meters on each side (90,000 square meters or 970,000 square feet). The monks' residences were on the eastern side.

Tsurphu was founded by Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama (1110-1193) in 1159, after he visited the site and laid the foundation for an establishment of a seat there by making offerings to the local protectors, the dharmapalas and territorial divinities (Wylie: yul lha). In 1189 he revisited the site and founded his main seat there. The monastery grew to hold 1000 monks.