Samye Monastery

Samye is Tibet’s first Buddhist monastery, built in 779 CE by King Trisong Deutsen with the guidance of Guru Padmasambhava and the Indian abbot Shantarakshita. It was here that the first Tibetan monks were ordained, making it the founding site of the Tibetan Buddhist monastic tradition. The architecture is a mandala of the Buddhist cosmos — the central Utse temple represents Mount Meru, surrounded by temples representing the continents, all enclosed within a circular wall. It was at Samye that the famous “Council of Samye” (792–794 CE) took place, a debate between the Indian and Chinese approaches to Buddhist practice, won by the Indian Madhyamaka position which shaped Tibetan Buddhism ever after. Guru Padmasambhava meditated in the Samye Chimphu caves nearby.