Samye Monastery History

Another name of the Samye Monastery is Samyuan. “Samye” is the transliteration of Tibetan, which means “unimaginable”. It was said that in order to promote Buddhism, Trisong Detsen asked Indian monk Padmasambhava for suggestions about the construction of the monastery. Padmasambhava, exerting his magic power, showed the king an image of a monastery in his palm. This was really “unimaginable”. After it was built, it got the name “Samye Monastery”.

Samye Monastery was built by King Trisong Detsen in the 8th century. In the mid-9th century, it was closed because Buddhism was forbidden in Tobu (ancient name for Tibet). In the late 10th century, Buddhism prevailed again and it became the central monastery of Nyingma Sect (Red) (one of the Tibetan Buddhism sects). At the time of Samye's construction, Buddhism had been transmitted into Tibet, but there were no formal Buddhist priests or rituals. Trisong Detsen decided to consolidate his political power with Buddhism after he came in power. So he welcomed Buddhist figureheads from Nepal and build Samye, the first formal monastery that established “triratna”, referring to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Soon after the construction, King Trisong Detsen ordered seven Tibetan nobles tonsured at Samye Monastery, and they became the first group of monks in Tibet. who were known as the “Seven Jueshi”. So Samye Monastery became the first complete monastery in Tibet with “Buddhist, laws and monks”.

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