Tsurphu monastery is the seat of the Karmapa and it was founded in the 1180s by the first Karmapa Dusum Kyenpa, some forty years after he established the Karmapa order in Kham, the place where he was born and Tsurphu was the third Karmapa monastery to be built and after the death of the first Karmapa, it became the head monastery for the Sakyapa order. The monastery is composed of one main assembly hall and some chapels. The main object of the monastery are some very revered relics of the 16 th Karmapa, as well as statues of Amitabha and Shakyamuni. Tsurphu has 300 monks nowadays.