Nunnery in Nangchen

Several years after he returned from Central Tibet, my father, Chimey Dorje, began retreat at his main hermitage, Dechen Ling, the Sanctuary of Great Bliss. In total I believe he spent around thirty years in retreat there. It was there he left his body, when he was sixty-three years old.
Before he died he told us, “If there is any need for me to serve Chokgyur Lingpa’s treasures, I will return and do so. But I would definitely not be happy if someone were forced to be my tulku. So don’t look for any after I die!”

When I was around nine years old, I was placed in my father’s care. He was residing at the mountain hermitage Dechen Ling, a small nunnery surrounded by retreat huts. I was very fond of my father’s hermitage; the scenery and views were beautiful, and its history went back to our early forefathers.
Darma Wangchuk, one of the forefathers of our Barom Kagyu lineage, had established two monastic seats, one in Central Tibet and one in Kham. These were referred to as the upper and lower seats. The lower was on the mountain known as Jewel Heap of Countless ah Syllables. The name comes from a small mountain decorated with self-appeared ah syllables in untold numbers. Self-appeared syllables are quite wondrous. You could see the syllable ah in almost one hundred different places on the rock. I personally saw at least forty or fifty of them on the cliff face.
This was an immensely blessed place where many past masters of the Barom lineage had lived and displayed their miraculous powers. When Darma Wangchuk was living in a cave there, many disciples gathered around him and later they became renowned as the “thirteen with super-knowledge, the thirteen who could run like horses, the thirteen who could fly like birds” and many other feats of accomplishment. They all had lived on the mountain where Dechen Ling was situated.
Dechen Ling stands out in my memory. Most of the people I remember in Kham are from the area around that mountain.

from Blazing Splendor, the memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche