Tropu

Tropu Monastery stood in the Shab valley of Tsang and became the seat of the Tropu Kagyu tradition. Gyeltsa Rinchen Gön, a disciple of Phagmo Drupa, established a small monastery in the valley; his nephew, the translator Tropu Lotsawa Jampa Pel, later enlarged its community and reputation. Jampa Pel travelled between Tibet, Nepal and India to invite learned teachers to Tibet.

In 1204 he journeyed to Assam and persuaded the Indian scholar Shakyashribhadra to visit Tropu. The scholar taught in Tibet for ten years, with Jampa Pel serving as translator. The latter also commissioned a colossal image of the future Buddha Maitreya, consecrated by Shakyashribhadra in 1212. Tropu thus became a meeting place for the teachings of Indian Buddhist masters and the Tibetan Kagyu lineage.