Meru Nyingpa (rme ru rnying pa) is said to have been one of the monastic communities that the early ninth-century Tibetan emperor Relpachen (ral pa can) founded around the Lhasa Tsuklakkhang (gtsug lag khang). The temple became affiliated with Nechung (gnas chung) monastery during the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682), who transformed it into the Lhasa seat of the Nechung oracle, a state oracle of Tibet. Many of the current structures making up the Meru Nyingpa compound date from a late nineteenth-century renovation by the Nechung oracle Shakya Yampel (shAkya yar 'phel), though at least one old chapel may retain features dating from the time of the Tibetan empire. Meru Nyingpa is located adjacent to the east side of the Tsuklakkhang.