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{{Short description|Tibetan Buddhist monastery near Lhasa, Tibet, China}}
{{Infobox Tibetan Buddhist monastery
|name = Yerpa
|image =Monastery ruins, Yerpa 1993.JPG

|alt = 
|caption =  Monastery ruins, 1993
|t=གཡེར་པ
|w=g•yer pa
|to = 
|ipa={{IPA|bo|jeːpa|}}
|z=Yêrba
|thdl=
|e=
|tc=葉巴
|s=叶巴
|p=Yèbā
| religious_affiliation = [[Tibetan Buddhism]]
|map_type = China Tibet
|coordinates = {{coord|29|44.87|N|91|16.83|E|type:landmark_region:CN|display=inline,title}}
|map_caption = Location within Tibet Autonomous Region
|location=Yerpa Valley, [[Lhasa Prefecture]], [[Tibet Autonomous Region]], [[China]]
|founded_by =[[Songtsen Gampo]] and [[Trisong Detsen]]
|year_completed = 7th-8th century
|date_renovated = 
|sect = [[Gelug]]
|lineage=
|dedicated_to = 
|head_lama = 
|colleges=
|no._of_monks =
|architecture = 
|footnotes = 
}}
'''Yerpa''' (also known as '''Brag Yer-pa''', '''Drak Yerpa''', '''Druk Yerpa''', '''Dagyeba''', '''Dayerpa''' and '''Trayerpa''') is a monastery and a number of ancient meditation caves that used to house about 300 monks, located a short drive to the east of [[Lhasa]], [[Tibet]].{{sfn|Osada|Allwright|Kanamaru|2000|p=99}}

==Description==
Dra Yerpa is located on a hillside in [[Dagzê County]].{{cn|date=June 2023}} The entrance to the Yerpa Valley is about {{convert|16|km}} northeast of Lhasa on the northern bank of the [[Kyichu]]. From there, it is another {{convert|10|km}} to the famous ancient meditation caves in the spectacular limestone cliffs of the Yerpa Valley (Tibetan: བྲག་ཡེར་པ་, Wylie: Brag Yer-pa). There is an ancient [[sky burial]] site opposite the main caves.

The famous legendary hero [[Gesar of Ling]] is said to have visited the valley. The holes his arrows left in the cliffs are believed to be evidence of his presence.

==History==

===Early years===
[[File:Young monk in meditation cell, Yerpa, Tibet. 1993.jpg|thumb|Young monk in meditation cell, Yerpa]]
There are a number of small temples shrines and hermitages and the cliffs contain some of the earliest known meditation sites in Tibet, some dating back to pre-Buddhist times. Among the more famous are those traditionally connected with [[Songtsen Gampo]] (604–650 CE), (traditionally the [[List of emperors of Tibet|33rd king of the Yarlung dynasty]] and first emperor of a united Tibet). His Tibetan queen, Monza Triucham, founded the Dra Yerpa temple here.{{sfn|Dorje|1999|pp=68–69}}

He and his two foreign-born queens are said to have meditated in the 'Peu Marsergyi Temple' and in the 'Chogyel Puk', and to have discovered 'self-originated' symbols of the Buddha-body, speech and mind. [[Padmasambhava]], or Guru Rinpoche (late 8th to early 9th century), meditated and practiced [[tantric yoga]] with his [[yogini]] [[Yeshe Tsogyal]] here, and to have spent 7 months in meditation in the 'Dawa Puk', which is considered to be one of his three most important places of attainment.{{sfn|Dorje|1999|p=141}}
After [[Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje]] assassinated the anti-Buddhist [[Bon]] Emperor [[Langdarma]] in 842 CE he is said to have hidden himself in a cave and meditated for 22 years.
His hat was kept there until 1959.{{sfn|Osada|Allwright|Kanamaru|2000|p=99}}{{sfn|Dowman|1988|p=75}}{{sfn|Gyaltsen|1996|p= 266}}

Yerpa became one of the three most important centres of meditation and retreat in Central Tibet. Several of Guru Rinpoche's disciples are also said to have meditated here. [[Atisha]] (982 – 1054 CE) preached extensively in the valley.{{sfn|Dowman|1988|pp=73, 79}} 
Atisha's hermitage is in ruins but had 300 monks in the 19th century and was the summer quarters for the [[Ramoche Monastery]] (the Upper Tantric College).{{sfn|Dorje|1999|p=141}}

Later histories record that both Songtsen Gampo and [[Trisong Detsen]] (756–797) founded temples at Yerpa, and Klu-mes Tshul-khrims did some refurbishing in the 11th century.{{sfn|Richardson|1985|p=144}}{{sfn|Ancient Tibet 1986|pp=314–315}}
Tradition says that after Songtsen Gampo's only son, Gungri Gungsten, was born to Mangza Tricham, Princess of Mang, one of his wives: "A shrine and a stupa dedicated to the tutelary deity of mother and son were built upon the lap of a rocky mountain that resembled a seated image of the Holy Tara in the region of Yerpa."{{sfn|Gyaltsen|1996|pp=188–189}}

===Gelug control===
The ancient Kadampa gompa Yerpa Drubde passed to [[Gelug]] control after the reformation of [[Je Tsongkhapa]] (1357–1419).{{sfn|Dowman|1988|p=79}} 
After the death of the [[4th Dalai Lama]] (1589–1617), in 1618 the monks of the [[Gelug]] monasteries of [[Sera Monastery|Sera]] and [[Drepung Monastery|Drepung]] revolted against the [[Tsangpa]] forces in Lhasa. Those who were not killed took refuge in [[Taklung Monastery|Taglung]], to the northeast. Khöntön Rinpoché, who had tried to persuade the monks of Sera to avoid violence, moved to Yerpa until calm returned.{{sfn|14th Dalai Lama|Lhundrub|Cabezón|2011|p=42–43}}
Yerpa lost its wealth at this time, and was placed under the jurisdiction of [[Taklung Monastery]].{{sfn|Shakabpa|2009|p=329}}

===Recent years===
{{Tibetan Buddhism}}
There were some 300 monks living at Yerpa from at least the beginning of the 19th century until 1959. 
It also acted as summer residence for the [[Gyuto Order|Gyuto]] Lhasa Tantric College.{{sfn|Dowman|1988|p=79}}
The Drubde monastery, the summer residence of the Gyutö College, was destroyed in 1959.{{sfn|Kelly|Bellezza|2008|p=140}}
During the [[Cultural Revolution]] (1966–76) the whole complex at Yerpa, including the Drag Yerpa monastery and the Upper Tantric College summer residence, were completely destroyed.{{sfn|Schwartz|1996|p=62}}

Using voluntary labor and donations some of the cave temples and Drag Yerpa were later partially restored.{{sfn|Schwartz|1996|p=62}}
Police came to Yerpa after the disturbances of October 1987 and pasted notices on the temple doors warning people against taking part in "counter-revolutionary activities".{{sfn|Schwartz|1996|p=62}}
In 1998 the government demolished a number of chapels that had been built without authorization.
The number of monks allowed at Yerpa was still strictly controlled in 2008.{{sfn|Kelly|Bellezza|2008|p=140}}

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Yerpa 1993.JPG|Yerpa, 1993
File:Entrance to Dawa Puk, Padmasambhava's cave, Yerpa 1993.jpg|Entrance to Dawa Puk, [[Guru Rinpoche]]'s cave
File:Self-originated sacred symbol on rock, Yerpa.jpg|Self-originated sacred symbol
File:King Songsten Gampo's statue in his meditation cave at Yerpa.jpg|A statue of Emperor [[Songtsän Gampo]] in his meditation cave at Yerpa
File:Guru Rinpoche, Yerpa 1993.JPG|Statue of [[Guru Rinpoche]] in his meditation cave at Yerpa
File:Yerpa Valley.JPG|Yerpa Valley below a [[chorten]]
File:Gesar's arrow holes, Yerpa 1993.JPG|Gesar's arrow holes. (Click to view the holes in the mountains).
File:Sky burial site, Yerpa Valley.JPG|Sky burial site, Yerpa.
File:Drak Yerpa valley.jpg|Drak Yerpa valley from the destroyed Monastery
File:Drak Yerpa.jpg|Drak Yerpa
File:Drak Yerpa 25-05-2015 - 1.png|Drak Yerpa, 2015
</gallery>

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{commons category|Yerpa}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|author1=14th Dalai Lama|author-link1=14th Dalai Lama|last2=Lhundrub|first2=Khonton Peljor|last3=Cabezón|first3=José Ignacio
 |title=Meditation on the Nature of Mind
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBAVJV8zn3oC&pg=PA43|access-date=2015-02-26|date=2011-05-17|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-86171-628-9}}
*{{cite book|ref={{harvid|Ancient Tibet 1986}}
 |title=Ancient Tibet: Research Materials from The Yeshe De Project |year=1986|publisher=Dharma Publishing |isbn=0-89800-146-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Dorje |first=Gyurme|year=1999 |title=Footprint Tibet Handbook|edition=2nd|location=Bath, England|isbn=1-900949-33-4}}  Also published by NTC Publishing Group, Lincolnwood, Illinois, U.S.A. in 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-8442-2190-8}}; {{ISBN|0-8442-2190-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Dowman |first=Keith|title=The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/powerplacescentr00dowm_740
 |url-access=limited
 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/powerplacescentr00dowm_740/page/n86 73]–79|year=1988|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|location=London|isbn=0-7102-1370-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Gyaltsen |first=Sakyapa Sonam|title=The Clear Mirror: A Traditional Account of Tibet's Golden Age|translator=McComas Taylor|translator2=Lama Choedak Yuthok
 |year=1996|publisher=Snow Lion Publications|location=Ithaca, N.Y. |isbn=1-55939-048-4}}
*{{cite book|last1=Kelly|first1=Robert|last2=Bellezza|first2=John Vincent|title=Tibet. Ediz. Inglese
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bo7_pF-ab_wC&pg=PA140|access-date=2015-02-26|year=2008|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74104-569-7}}
*{{cite book|year=2000 |title=Mapping the Tibetan World
 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780970171603|url-access=registration|last1=Osada|first1=Yukiyasu |last2=Allwright|first2=Gavin|last3=Kanamaru |first3=Atsushi |publisher=Kotan Publishing|location=Tokyo|isbn=0-9701716-0-9}} Reprint: 2004
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CgOZrrCkRMcC&pg=PA144
 |last=Richardson|first=H. E. |year=1985|title=A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions|publisher=Royal Asiatic Society|isbn=0-947593-00-4}}
*{{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Ronald D.|title=Circle Of Protest
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_7WkbZAaWEC&pg=PA62|access-date=2015-02-26
 |date=1996-01-01|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1370-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Shakabpa|first=Tsepon Wangchuk Deden|title=One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGyrymfDdI0C&pg=PA329|access-date=2015-02-26
 |date=2009|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17732-1}}
{{refend}}

{{Lhasa Prefecture}} 
{{Buddhist monasteries in Tibet}}

[[Category:Dagzê County]]
[[Category:History of Tibetan Buddhism]]
[[Category:Gelug monasteries in Tibet]]
[[Category:Buddhist monasteries in Lhasa (prefecture-level city)]]
[[Category:Buddhist temples in Tibet]]
[[Category:7th-century establishments in Tibet]]