Yangri Gang Monastery is located in Yangri Gang Village, about 3 kilometers northeast of Nima Jiangre Township, Maizhokunggar County. It is a Drikung Kagyu monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, situated at an altitude of 3,950 meters.
The monastery has a history of about 650 years. At the beginning of the 21st century, it housed more than 50 monks.
Architecture
The monastery was founded in the 13th century (around 1339) by Lin Chokyi Jeb, originally as a retreat room at Yangri Gang and a small protective deity shrine with an area supported by only two pillars.
In the 19th century, the main assembly hall and many retreat rooms were added.
The main hall is built of timber and stone, facing south, two stories high, and features a veranda. The veranda, supported by two pillars, is decorated with murals of the Nine Great Guardians. Inside, the principal image is a copper statue of the Drikung Kagyu patriarch Jigten Rinchenpel. The second floor of the main hall contains the living quarters of eminent monks. On the hillside to the north of the main hall, there are 30 monk retreat rooms, built in a uniform style of stone and wood.
The monastery preserves a large number of valuable cultural relics. Within Maizhokunggar County, it is the most influential Kagyu monastery after Drigung Til Monastery.
History
“Yangri Gang” came into being with the eighteenth throne holder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage, Rinchen Phuntsok. His father was Tenpa Gyaltsen and his mother was Sonam Drolma. He was born in 1509. At the age of eight, he became a monk at the Densatil Monastery of the Phagdru Kagyu, receiving the ordination name Rinchen Phuntsok Chokyi Jeb. At sixteen, he studied under the Drikung Kyabgon Gongkar Rinchen. At twenty, he received full ordination and ascended the throne of political and religious leadership at Drigung Til Monastery.
In 1534, Rinchen Phuntsok founded the outdoor monastic assembly of Yangri Gang, and from this time onward the name “Yangri Gang” (meaning “outdoor itinerant dharma gathering”) came into use. He not only created and presided over the Yangri Gang itinerant monastic community but also appointed its Khenpo.
Until the nineteenth Khenpo of Yangri Gang, the community lacked a permanent residence. It was not until the later period of the twenty-fifth throne holder of the Drikung Kagyu, Rinchen Chokdrak, that Yangri Gang Monastery was established in Drolung. Drolung was the estate of Rinchen Phuntsok’s father Tenpa Gyaltsen, who had built a fortress there called Wangdan Podrang.
In 1641 AD, the retreat center of Langje Chudzong, founded in 1624 by the twenty-fourth throne holder, Gönchok Rinchen, was destroyed by enemies from Gyishö and Mongol forces. The sacred statues enshrined there, including that of Buddha Shakyamuni (Tönpa Chokyema), were transferred to Wangdan Podrang in Drolung, where a main hall with 36 pillars was erected. Gönchok Rinchen resided there until his passing, and was later honored with the title “Drikung Shakjung Drolungpa.”
After the establishment of the Ganden Phodrang government, the religious and political influence of the Drikung Kagyu declined. Incidents such as the imprisonment of Rinchen Chokdrak by the Ganden Phodrang caused difficulties for Yangri Gang Monastery. In the Fire Monkey year, Rinchen Chokdrak, while visiting the Fifth Dalai Lama at Drepung Monastery, petitioned both the Dalai Lama and the Desi Sonam Rabten to reorganize Yangri Gang and appoint a Khenpo, warning that upon his death, Yangri Gang would dissolve. Both agreed, though the process was delayed for over a year.
In 1658 AD, the Ganden Phodrang sent Tsang Sobuwa to merge the two itinerant outdoor dharma gatherings into one, appointing Jesé Lama of the Great Dharma Encampment and Jeri Lama of the Small Dharma Encampment as assistants, along with Rangsok Rinchen as teacher, Wen as steward, and various others to positions of responsibility. Afterward, Rinchen Chokdrak dedicated the Drolung manor and estate to Yangri Gang Monastery, and composed The Great Ocean of Yangri Gang Regulations: A Guide to Liberation. Thus Yangri Gang Monastery was formally established, coinciding with the third birthday of the twenty-sixth throne holder, Gönchok Trinle Sangpo, who was brought to Drigung Til.
The twenty-sixth throne holder, Gönchok Trinle Sangpo, created the masks and costumes required for ritual dances and cham performances at Yangri Gang Monastery. The twenty-seventh throne holder, Gönchok Tenzin Chokyi Drakpa, reviewed the monastery’s codes of conduct and discipline. In 1739 AD, he undertook a major expansion, and arranged for the Kangyur and Tengyur scriptures to be enshrined. At this time, the monastery was renamed Tupten Dechen Rejé Ling.
The twenty-eighth throne holder, Gönchok Tenzin Drakpa Dorje, who had participated in the previous expansions, further enlarged the monastery. The twenty-ninth throne holder, Gönchok Tenzin Chokyi Nyima, used resources transferred by Khenpo Karka Chokwang Lhundrup to carry out renovations in 1769 AD. In the Iron Mouse year, Jesé Tenzin Sangpo completed expansions of monk residences, and merged the long-abandoned Yare Retreat Center—originally built by the twenty-eighth throne holder—with Yangri Gang Monastery, restoring it under the new name Mejuk Dechen Ling. The thirtieth throne holder, Pema Jétsun, commissioned a gilt-copper statue of Amitayus; in the Fire Rabbit year, monk Wen Rinchen expanded monastic housing north of the meditation hall.
During the Cultural Revolution in 1960s, the monastery was converted into a military camp of the People’s Liberation Army.
In 1982, elder monks repaired the protector chapel at the Yare Retreat and resumed religious activity.
In 1992, after the PLA withdrew from Yangri Gang, the site was returned to the monastery. Under the leadership of Khenpo Akya Trile Gyaltsen, a new shrine hall with two main pillars and eight smaller ones was built above the former monk residences.
In 1993, Yare Monastery established a common monastic college of the Drikung Kagyu, with Khenchen Gönchok Lhundrup teaching scriptures, and constructed retreat facilities.
The Sixth Palor Rinpoche is the forty-second lineage holder of the Songs of Milarepa within the Kagyu tradition. At the age of seven, he became a monk at Drigung Til, taking refuge vows; at eight, he was recognized by Drikung Kyabgon Chungtsang Rinpoche as the sixth Palor Rinpoche of Yangri Gang Monastery. His father was the second Zen Rinpoche of Drigung Til.
In 2004, during the great Drigung Monkey Year Dharma Assembly, the Sixth Palor Rinpoche and the forty-first lineage holder of the Songs of Milarepa, Lama Tönpa Dondrup—who later became abbot of Drigung Til—jointly participated. From that time, the Sixth Palor Rinpoche began to study the Songs of Milarepa, becoming the forty-second lineage holder.
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