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Samye

c. 779 · 8th century · Also known as Samye Monastery

Samye is the first Buddhist monastery founded in Tibet, built on the north bank of the Yarlung Tsangpo south-east of Lhasa around 779 under the emperor Trisong Detsen, with the Indian scholar Shantarakshita and, by tradition, Padmasambhava. Its plan forms a mandala, with the main temple representing Mount Meru. It was the setting of the debate of the 790s in which Indian Buddhism prevailed over Chinese Chan teaching.

Samye
Image: CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 3 profiles

Tibetan EmpireImpact, SummaryPala EmpireImpactBuddhismSpread, Summary

Mentioned in 1 state history

Tibetan Empire

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Samye. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samye
MLA
“Samye.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samye. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Samye.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samye.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Samye’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/samye (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻