Samye was begun in 763 under the Indian abbot Shantarakshita, with Padmasambhava taking part in 767, and finished in 779 or 780 by King Trisong Detsen (en Wikipedia gives all these years).
It stands on the north bank of the Tsangpo in the Chimpu valley, in Dranang County of the Lhoka, and it was the first Buddhist monastery of Tibet where monks were ordained. By 1200 it is four centuries old. The English page records a civil war 'in the 11th century' with no details and names no restoration before the seventeenth century, so what state the great temple stood in on 1 January 1200 is not known from the pages we opened.
It is the foundation story of the Nyingma, the school that traces itself to Padmasambhava, and the Nyingma treasure-revealers (terton) of the twelfth century are linked to its caves and hermitages (recalled): Nyang Ral Nyima Ozer is the one the later histories name, with dates of 1124-1192 on one account and 1136-1204 on another, so he is either dead or an old man in January 1200. Samye had no army and no lord in 1200 that any source we opened names. It is a pilgrimage monastery on land of the Lhoka lords; the Mongol-age and later lords of Samye are outside the game.
Who holds it
- Title
- Keeper or abbot of Samye
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
En Wikipedia (Samye) names the founders (Shantarakshita, Padmasambhava, King Trisong Detsen) and no abbot of any later century. Nothing I could open says who looked after Samye in the 1190s.
Overlord
none: no one rules Tibet in 1200; the house answers to its own patrons and to the custom of the valleys
What it holds
- The great temple (Utse) and its walled monastery precinct
- The Chimpu hermitages and caves of Padmasambhava's tradition (recalled)
- Pilgrim offerings from every school
- Estates and serfs: not itemised by any source we could open
How it was acquired
763-780: royal foundation under Trisong Detsen. Who has held it since is not given.
Allies and rivals
No dealing with any house is recorded for 1200. Nearest houses: Densa Thil across the Tsangpo (Phagmodru), Tradruk (Yarlung), Sangphu (Kadam). The Nyingma have no great seat of their own; their lineages are carried by families (the Zur of Tsang, recalled) and by treasure-revealers.
How things stand that morning
Revered, old, probably worn; no known head, no known quarrel.
Wealth
No source we could open gives figures; the usual base is estates and serfs, herds, pass tolls, trade in salt, wool, tea and barley, and the gifts of patrons.
Military
No standing army; the house or lord calls on retainers, tenants and kin. No troop numbers are given by any source we could open.
Threats
- None known. Age and neglect, not enemies: the pages list no fire or sack before the seventeenth century.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1260s-1350s (recalled)Samye passes under the Sakya-Mongol order and, after 1354, is repaired by Changchub Gyaltsen of Phagmodru.Depends on: Mongol rule over Tibet, which does not exist in 1200. Stopped by: No Mongol conquest of Tibet.
Places of note
- Samye: The monastery, Wikipedia coordinates 29 19 31.8 N, 91 30 13.3 E
Where the sources disagree
- The English page gives completion as 779 and also 780 in the same article; both are stated.
- The brief asks for the Nyingma families and terton: the pages we opened name no Nyingma family for Ü in 1200; the Zur and Nyang Ral are from recollection.
Evidence: Only the foundation and the later destruction are on the page we opened; 1200 is blank. Treasury of Lives, the Blue Annals, the Red Annals, Petech, Sorensen and Hazod and Davidson could not be opened in this session (treasuryoflives.org and rigpawiki.org refused the fetch; the archive.org full texts were refused or cut off), so facts marked 'recalled' are from memory of those works and unchecked. Dates: 1200 is an Iron-Monkey year in the Tibetan cycle (the first sixty-year cycle began in 1027, a Fire-Hare year); 1 January 1200 falls in the closing weeks of the Earth-Sheep year (1199), before the Tibetan new year. Western years below are the ones the cited pages give; the Tibetan histories give animal-years and the conversions differ by a year or two.
On the map: Small disc; the lands of Samye are not known. The Chimpu valley and the north Tsangpo bank are on the province record.
Primary sources for Tibet (centre)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
- The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
- The collected works of Lama Zhang, and the early Kagyu lives, Lama Zhang (Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa) and his disciples; the biographers of Drigung, Taklung and Phagmodru (the 1160s to the early 13th century). The nearest contemporary witnesses to the lords of central Tibet in 1200. Read online
- The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Indo-Tibetica (the temples and inscriptions of western Tibet), with the Royal Genealogy of Ngari, Giuseppe Tucci (editor and translator); the genealogy by Ngawang Drakpa (Ngag dbang grags pa) (the inscriptions and temple records of the 11th to 15th centuries; Indo-Tibetica published 1932 to 1941; the genealogy about 1497). Guge, Purang and Ladakh in 1200 are among the least documented kingdoms in the atlas. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.