Drak Yerpa the historic complex of caves and temples. Tibet

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Drak Yerpa the historic complex of caves and temples.

Also: Brag Yer-pa, Druk Yerpa, Dagyeba, Dayerpa, Trayerpa. The entrance to the Yerpa Valley is about 16 km northeast of Lhasa on the northern bank of the Kyichu. From there, it is another 10 km to the famous ancient meditation caves in the spectacular limestone cliffs of the Yerpa Valley.

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 Songtsn Gampo (604650 CE), (traditionally the 33rd king of the Yarlung Dynasty and first emperor of a united Tibet). His Tibetan queen, Monza Triucham, founded the Dra Yerpa temple here.

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.

After this, 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. 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).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerpa

RY Drak Yerpa, in U. Trak Yerpa. the holy place of Guru Padmasambhava related to the speech aspect
RY Yerpa. A mountain retreat near Lhasa in Central Tibet