A preliminary note on the successive renovations of Samye Monastery

Abstract

This paper provides remarks on the history of renovations and restorations of Samye monastery, which was Tibet’s first Buddhist monastic institution, founded in the late-8th century. The research for this article was compiled from biographies of famous Buddhist masters associated with Samye, and Samye’s Register (dkar chag) written in different periods. The historical significance of Samye Monastery in Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan political history is briefly discussed in the first section, before I turn to consider the successive renovations in chronological order, with a focus on the identities of the restorers involved and major events that led to these renovations and restorations. Exploring the history of Samye’s renovations provides valuable details about the motives that compelled different Tibetan Buddhist sects to provide patronage for sacred sites in Tibetan Buddhism, and the connections of these motives with broader political and cultural events in Tibet and surrounding areas.