page_title: Riwoche Monastery
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Riwoche Monastery / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Sanggye On Drakpa Pel, b.1251 - d.1296, 4th Abbot of Taklung Monastery
context_page_description: Riwoche Monastery, Riwoche Tsuklakhang Tragyelma is situated 29 km north of the small town of Ratsaka, and 134 km west of Chamdo in Kham. It is at an altitude of about 3,400 metres in a fertile valley containing the Dzi River, a tributary to the Mekong River.
context_section_description: Riwoche was founded in 1276 CE by Sangye On, who was a student of Sangye Yarjon, the third lineage-holder of the Taklung branch of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, and Abbot of Taklung Monastery. He had promised the abbot's chair to two nephews, Onpo (1251–1296) and Mangalaguru. When Yarjon died, Onpo, just a young man, assumed the hierarch's position for one year. His older cousin, Mangalaguru (1231–1297), later took control of the monastery. Later, Onpu's disciple Choku Orgyan Gonpo (1293–1366), became second abbot of Riwoche. It became the main branch of the Taklung in Kham and, according to Go Lotsawa, the author of the Blue Annals, it once had as many as 2,000 monks, and held the greatest reputation among Khampa monasteries. From the time of its founding, the Taklung lineage was divided into "upper" and "lower" branches, Riwoche forming the "lower" branch. Today there are 305 monks residing at Riwoche Monastery.
caption: Sanggye On Drakpa Pel, founder of Riwoche Monastery
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "303", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "388"}