Note 24 — Chapter IX · FUNERAL OF THE PANCHEN RINPOCHE.—VISIT TO THE GREAT LAMASERY OF SAMYE AND TO YARLUNG.

The temple was built by King Tisrong detsan, whose capital was on the hill of Haboi-ri, just south of where Samye now stands, at the suggestion of the Indian sage Santa Rakshita, and with the assistance of Padma Sambhava, the originator of monasticism in Tibet.24 It was a copy of the great temple of Odantapura in Central India. Its three stories were each in a different style of architecture, one Tibetan, another Indian, and the third Chinese: so it was after a while given the name of San-yang or “three styles,” which in Tibetan is pronounced Samye,25 though it was originally named Mi-gyur lhun-grub Tsug-lha-khang, “the temple of the unalterable mass of perfection.”