Samding Dorje Phagmo Simbiling Monastery, also known as Shambuling Gompa, Shepeling Dzong and Taklakot Gompa[citation needed], was located next to the large fort of Tegla Kar (Lying Tiger Fort)[citation needed] on a ridge near Taklakot, above the town of Purang, in the Ngari province, which is just over the border from India, in western Tibet in the valley of the Karnali River, which is known in Tibet as the Mapchchu Khambab - the 'Peacock Mouth River' or 'River Formed from the Mouth of a Peacock'.

[1] It was set above a ridge of cave dwellings, high above the town, about 15 km to the east of the Sakya Khorzhak Monastery which has survived, and been restored.

In 1841, General Zorawar Singh, the commander-in-chief of the Dogra forces, after conquering almost all of Ladakh and much of Western Tibet, including Mount Kailash, and lakes Mansarowar and Rakas Tal, and all the territory from Ladakh to the Mayum Pass, east of Mansarowar, from where the road lead temptingly on to Shigatse and Lhasa, backed by a garrison he had stationed at the strategically important Shepeling dzong.

[3][4] In 2003, work was begun to rebuild Shambuling Monastery by Trugo Lama, Lobsang Samten, and there are now a few monks there.

The present Chinese military garrison and cantonment is just across the Karnali river northeast from the ruined fort and monasteries.