Samye

Samye Monastery (Tibetan: བསམ་ཡས་, Wylie: bsam yas, Chinese: 桑耶寺), full name Samye Migyur Lhundrub Tsula Khang (Wylie: Bsam yas mi ’gyur lhun grub gtsug lag khang) and Shrine of Unchanging Spontaneous Presence, is the first Tibetan Buddhist and Nyingma monastery built in Tibet, during the reign of King Trisong Deutsen. Khenpo Shantarakshita began construction in 763, and Tibetan Vajrayana founder Guru Padmasambhava tamed the local spirits before its completion in 767. The first Tibetan monks were ordained there in 779. Samye was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution then rebuilt after 1988. Samye Monastery is located in the Chimpu valley (Mchims phu), south of Lhasa, next the Hapori mountain along the greater the Yarlung Valley. The site is in the present administrative region of Gra Nang or Drananga Lhokha.