The holy place of Nyingma, starting from Samye Monastery in the eighth century. It was the first monastery in Tibet that housed the Three Jewels of Buddhism, Dharma, and Sangha, and it was also the place where Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita lay the foundation stone. Over the next 1,200 years, Nyingma's monasteries spread along the Brahmaputra River and the Hengduan Mountains, sprouting new branches in Uizang, Kham, Amdo, and later in Bhutan, Nepal, Europe and the United States.

The reason why these places are important is not only because of the magnificent buildings, but also because the Dharma happened there: someone achieved enlightenment there, someone buried Terma there, and someone translated a sutra from Sanskrit to Tibetan there. For pilgrims, stepping into a Nyingma temple is to step into a piece of history that is still alive.

The following dojos are where the Nyingma lineage comes into being in the snowy world, and each one has its own chapter.

• Samye Monastery (Samye) - built around 775, it is the first monastery in Tibet that houses both Buddhists, Dharma and monks. It is the starting point of the Nyingma lineage.
• Mindrolling Monastery (Mindrolling) - built in 1676, Nyingma "Southern Transmission" center is famous for its precepts and collection of classics.
• Dorje Drak (Dorje Drak) - Nyingma "Northern Transmission" center, famous for Terma practice and Puba Dharma.
• Katok Temple (Katok) - one of the oldest Nyingma temples in Kham, built in 1159.
• Palyul Temple (Palyul) - built in 1665, famous for its strict precepts and seclusion tradition.
• Dzogchen Temple (Dzogchen) - built in 1685, the teaching center of Dzogchen.
• Shechen Temple (Shechen) - an important town in Kham, later rebuilt in Bhutan, famous for the Limei (non-sectarian) movement.

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The most charming thing about Samye Monastery is that its format itself is a scripture.

The whole temple is laid out according to the Buddhist cosmology: the central main hall symbolizes Mount Sumeru, and is three stories high. It combines three architectural styles of Tibetan, Chinese and Indian respectively - Tibetan style on the bottom floor, Chinese style on the middle floor and Indian style on the top floor, symbolizing the convergence of Buddhism in Tibet from three directions. The four halls on the four sides of the main hall represent the four major continents, and the eight small halls represent the eight small continents; the two small halls on the left and right symbolize the sun and the moon; the surrounding wall symbolizes the Iron Wall Mountain.

This approach of "importing a cosmic diagram into a building" is extremely rare in Tibetan monasteries. It means that people who walk into Samye Monastery are not just walking into a palace, but walking into a three-dimensional Tönpa Shenrab MiwocheQ: Every stone you step on tells you what the world looks like.

The temple also preserves stone tablets and bronze bells from the time when the temple was built, as well as a large number of murals and Buddha statues. After the 1990s, Samye Monastery has been repaired many times, and now it is not only an important dojo of Nyingma, but also a must-visit place for visitors to understand the history of Tibetan Buddhism.

Nyingma does not have a highly centralized political and religious center like Gelug. Its teachings are maintained by the Six Mother Temples. These six monasteries are located in Uizang and Kham districts, each with their own specialties:

• Minzhu Lin attaches great importance to precepts and classics. It is historically the "highest institution of learning" of Nyingma. Monks must be proficient in sutra and esoteric teachings.
• Dorji Zha emphasizes Terma and wrathful yidam practices, and is famous for its Puba Dharma and Eight Dharma Practices.
• Zhuo Qian specializes in promoting Dzogchen, his name means "Dzogchen", and has cultivated a large number of practitioners.
• Gathok and Baiyu are famous for their strict discipline and retreat, and many monks from Kham area go to study there.
• Sueqian became an important stronghold of the "Leimei" (non-sectarian) movement in the 19th century, advocating transcending sectarian portals and inheriting all inheritances equally.

This web has no center, but is extremely tough. If any temple suffers disaster in history, the Dharma lineage can be continued elsewhere - this may be the reason why Nyingma can survive through thousands of years: It puts its eggs in six different baskets.

In Nyingma's religious geography, the most important holy land is not on earth - Wujin Temple Land (ཨོ་རྒྱན་མཁའ་སྤྱོད་), also known as Copper-colored Auspicious Mountain (Zangdok Palri), is the pure land where Padmasambhava currently lives.

According to Nyingma, Guru Rinpoche did not enter annihilation after leaving Tibet, but went to the Rakshasa Kingdom in the southwest, where he manifested into the Lotus Light Palace in the Copper-colored Auspicious Mountain and continued to save all sentient beings. Making the aspiration to be reborn in the land of Ujin is a common dedication for Nyingma practitioners.

The significance of this belief lies in the fact that it expands the "holy land" from the geographical space to the mental space: even if a person cannot go to Tibet, he can still focus on that mountain during visualization and prayer. Nyingma often said, Guru Rinpoche once said, "Whoever prays to me with faith, I will come to him" - so every sincere petitioner can have the land of Wujin in front of him.

If you have the opportunity to step into a Nyingma temple, you will probably go through this sequence:

Porch - There are murals of the Four Heavenly Kings or Dharma Protectors on both sides. As soon as you enter the door, you will see an angry look. Its function is not to intimidate, but to remind: This place is different from the secular world.

Main Hall (འདུ་ཁང་) - The three statues of Padmasambhava or Master are enshrined in the middle, with yidam and Dharma protectors on both sides. The light in the hall was dim, the smell of butter lamp was strong, and the monks chanted sutras in a low and rhythmic voice.

Murals and inheritance pictures - The eight changes of Guru Rinpoche, the twenty-five disciples, and the state of refuge are often painted on the walls, which are graphic textbooks of the teachings.

Retreat Room - Usually located in the back hill or side courtyard of the temple, it is the place where monks retreat in three months and three months. No idlers should come near.

formal debate (tsenyid) Field - formal debate (tsenyid) at Nyingma is not as grand as Gelug, but there are some, and they are mostly held under the trees in the courtyard.

The rules for visitors are simple: Slow down, be quiet, don't point at the Buddha statues, and don't make loud noises or take photos in the temple. A holy place is not a scenic spot, it is someone else’s daily routine.

Nyingma’s annual festivals are mostly related to Padmasambhava:

• The tenth day of each month in the Tibetan calendar (ཚེས་བཅུ་) - Guru Rinpoche day. Legend has it that Guru Rinpoche promised to return to Tibet on the tenth day of every month, so Nyingma Temple held a ceremony (ཚོགས་འཁོར་) and Vajra Dance on this day, which is the most regular monthly ritual in Nyingma.
• Guru Rinpoche Memorial Day (the tenth day of the sixth lunar month in the Tibetan calendar) - commemorates the birth anniversary of Guru Rinpoche in Tibet, and the Dharma gathering is the largest.
• Puba Vajra Dharma Assembly - usually held at the end of the year, Puba Dharma is used to purify the obstacles and negative conditions of the year. During this period, monks wear masks and dance Vajra dance.
• Vajra Dance (གུ་རུ་ཚེས་བཅུ་) - interprets the plot of subduing demonic obstacles in the biography of Guru Rinpoche, which is very popular in Bhutan and Tibet.

These festivals cause the monastery to wake up repeatedly throughout the year: the rituals are not preserved in the scriptures, but are performed over and over again.

Nyingma's holy places have a distinct geographical feature - they are highly concentrated in Shannan. Samye Monastery, Mindrolling Monastery, and Dorje Trag Monastery are all located in the valley of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra River, and are only tens of kilometers apart from each other.

This is no accident. Shannan is the birthplace of the Tubo Dynasty and the place where Buddhism was first introduced to Tibet. The Brahmaputra River here has a wide valley and a mild climate, which is suitable for farming and settlement, making it the ideal place for early monasteries.

For visitors, this means one thing: You can see almost all of Nyingma’s millennium history in Shannan. Starting from Lhasa and heading south along the Yangtze River, you can reach Samye and Minzhu Ling within a day, and the distance between the two monasteries is only an hour's drive.

Q: What is the most important Nyingma sacred site?

A: Samye Monastery. It was the first monastery in Tibet with the full triad of buddha, dharma, and sangha, and the historical starting point of the Nyingma lineage. Beyond it, the six great mother monasteries—Mindrolling, Dorje Drak, Katok, Palpung, Dzogchen, and Shechen—each head their own subschool.

Q: Which school does Samye belong to today?

A: Samye changed hands several times and was once managed by the Sakya school; later Nyingma, Sakya, Gelug and others maintained it together. Today it is an important Nyingma seat and a sacred site honored by all schools.

Q: Can Zangdok Palri (the Copper-Colored Mountain) be found on a map?

A: No. It is a pure land of faith, not a geographic coordinate. Nyingma holds that Padmasambhava dwells on the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain, and one connects with it only through devotion and visualization.

Q: If I can't go to Tibet, how can I pilgrimage?

A: Nyingma values 'pilgrimage of the mind'—reading an article about a sacred site, visualizing Padmasambhava, and reciting his mantra 'Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum' connects you with the lineage just as well. Padmasambhava promised: 'Whoever invokes me with faith, to them I come.'

• Samye Monastery, Tibet.jpg · Lark Ascending / Public domain
• Samye Monastery from above 2014-06-17.jpg · Gyurmed / CC0