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.