Chakpori Monastery was first extablished in the twelfth century as a Kadampa monastery and converted to Sakya in the thirteenth century. The hill by that name, opposite the Potala in Lhasa, is considered sacred to Vajrapāṇi, and the slopes of Chakpori contain more than 5,000 rock-carvings. In 1695, Desi Sanggye Gyatso and Nyingto Yonten Gonpo built Chakpori Medical College on the site. The Medical College was destroyed in 1959 during the Chinese invasion of Lhasa. In 1992, it was rebuilt in exile in Darjeeling under the guidance of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
