Founded around 779 C.E., Samye was Tibet’s first Monastery. Although a few temples of worship had been built earlier in Tibet, Samye was the first fully functioning Monastery. Upon its completion, the first 7 Tibetan Buddhist monks were ordained by Śāntarakṣita (725–788), the famous abbot of the Indian monastery Vikramaśīla. Samye played a central role in Trisong Detsen’s lifelong project to make Buddhism the state

At the beginning of the 21st century, the presence of Buddhism in Europe is characterized by a diversity of traditions, schools, orders, and lineages: Since the 1970s interest in Buddhism among Europeans has grown steadily, accompanied by the arrival of Buddhist refugees and immigrants from Asian countries. Nevertheless, Buddhism’s public face in Europe and its representation in the media are dominated by convert Buddhists, leaving

In approximately 250 BCE, about 200 years after the Buddha attained Enlightenment, Buddhist Emperor Aśoka visited Bodh Gaya in order to establish a monastery and shrine on the holy site, which have today disappeared. Though the emperor Aśoka probably established Bodh Gaya and the Bodhi tree as Buddhism’s most sacred Buddhist Pilgrimage site and object, the earliest extant remains and inscriptions are from times of