It is about 85 km (53 mi) southeast of Lhasa "on the northern side of the Lhorong Chu valley above the Lhasa-Shigatse highway.

"[1] It was founded around 1504 (521 years ago) (1504) by the 4th Shamarpa who on finding the site proclaimed, "There shall be a monastery built on the left side of the Yangpachen as the support for Kagyu teachings and symbol of everlasting victory".

[2] Yangpachen Gompa was founded by Murab Jampa Tujepel in 1490 under the auspices of the fourth Sharmapa and financed by the Prince of Rinpung.

When the Gorkhalis under Pritvi Narayan Shah, king of the newly unified Kingdom of Nepal, invaded Tibet in 1792 to be defeated by a Chinese army, the tenth Sharmapa was accused of traitorous support of the Nepalis.

It is at the bottom of the eastern face of a long ridge with magnificent views of the high Nyenchen Tanglha range to the north.