SAMYE MONASTERY located 210Km
south of Lhasa and it is the first
monastery of Tibet, built in 8
th century by the Tibetan King
Trisong Detsen under the patronage
of Pedmasamvawa and Shatarakshita.
Samye’s design was based
on that of the Odantapuri temple
of Bihar in India and is a mandalic
symbol of the universe. The central
temple represents Mt Meru known
as Sumeru in Sanskrit and the
temples around it represent oceans,
the continents and the sub-continents
that surround the mountain in
Buddhist cosmology. The monastery
has around 170 monks nowadays. |
