The Kagyu oral transmission lineage was received by the Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha, Tilopa, and from many of the enlightened masters, as well as directly from Buddha Vajradhara. In turn, Tilopa transmitted the teachings to the great scholar Mahasiddha Naropa of Nalanda Monastic University. Naropa then transmitted to Marpa, the great Mahasiddha translator who was the previous incarnation of the Tai Situpa. Marpa journeyed three times to India from Tibet to receive the transmissions and then carry them back to Tibet. His main disciple, the enlightened Je Milarepa, passed the transmissions to Gampopa, a great bhikhu scholar and an enlightened master. Gampopa had numerous accomplished disciples, and through them, many lineages developed.

The Karma Kagyu lineage was derived in the twelfth century by the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, a disciple of Gampopa. The first Karmapa transmitted the teachings to his principle disciple, Drogon Rechen, a previous incarnation of the Tai Situpa, who then passed the transmission to Gyalse Pomdrakpa, who then passed it to the second Karmapa. Since then the teachings of the Karma Kagyu lineage have been transmitted from the Karmapas to their main disciples, and back, in an unbroken line of reincarnated realized beings who have preserved these teachings in their purity and sacredness to the present time.

1757 AD, Chamgon Tai Situpa Rinpoche founded the great Palpung Monastery in Eastern Tibet. "Palpung" literally means "Glorious Accumulation: a place where talented masters are cultivated." Palpung became the administrative seat of Tai Situpa and from this monastic seat there developed over one hundred and eighty monastic branches and thirteen monastic estates throughout Tibet.

For more than 200 years Palpung was a great center of learning and one of the most sacred and prestigious institutions in Tibet with extensive libraries and thousands of treasured sacred paintings and artifacts. However, following the Communist occupation and political uprising in the late 1950s, most of sacred Palpung Monastery and its congregation were destroyed.

In 1959 Chamgon Tai Situpa Rinpoche and his entourage left Tibet and joined His Holiness, the Sixteenth Karmapa at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim.

In 1975, at the age of 22, The Twelfth Chamgon Tai Situpa continued his religious and traditional responsibilities, and assured the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in its pure form, by founding the Palpung Sherab Ling Monastic Seat in Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. Recognizing the growing interest in Buddhism throughout the world, the Twelfth Tai Situpa, also wished to provide the opportunity for people to study and practice in a traditional Tibetan Buddhist monastic environment.

The Palpung Sherab Ling Monastic Seat has developed once again into a major center of Vajrayana Buddhism in general, and in particular the monastic seat for the Palpung congregation of the Kagyu Lineage, having in residence over 500 monks and nuns, as well as lay devotees.
The monastery project encompasses four independent aspects: spiritual, educational, cultural and health. The spiritual aspect centers on the preservation and propagation of the pure unadulterated teachings of the Buddha as transmitted by the Kagyu lineage and Palpung congregation.
"As a Tibetan in India and also involved in religion as an incarnate lama, I have the responsibility to preserve and propagate the sacred teachings of the Buddha. At the same time, having been to many places around the world and having met with many people of different cultures and religions, I feel it is of crucial importance to preserve our own ancient and living lineage, traditions, practices, arts and sciences, the spirit of the Tibetan heritage, which is one of the living wisdom of humanity. Palpung Sherab Ling Monastic Seat is dedicated to that purpose."

The Twelfth Chamgon Tai Situpa