Tsurphu Monastery
The nunnery is located at the end of a valley, approximately west of Lhasa. Above Nenang, is the Tsurphu Monastery, a monastery which served as the traditional seat of the Karmapa. A river runs through the valley. It is the location of a quarry from where aggregates are carried to Lhasa for building construction, which is raising environmental concerns. As in the case of hermitages and nunneries located in the mountainous terrain immense religiosity is associated with it. Thus, the peak surrounding this nunnery is called the Glorious Copper-Coloured Mountain (), which is the name of Padmasambhava’s celestial palace, as the location was associated with Padmasambhava (Padma’byung gnas). Two large caves here were Padmasambhava’s meditation caves (). Another set of caves, on the hills opposite to the hermitage () were caves of the Sixteen Arhats (). These sites are all now in total ruins. It is therefore hard to even accept that a live and active hermitage existed here in the past.