Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Network

Timeline

1. 700–842Lhasa · LhasaDuring the Tibetan Empire, Buddhism entered from India and the Central Plains; early monasteries like Samye were built, forming monastic education and translation systems that laid the institutional foundation for later Tibetan Buddhist school networks.
2. 1000–1240Tibet · TibetIn the Later Diffusion period, the Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and other schools successively founded, building monasteries across Tibet, Kham, and the Himalayas to form a monastic education network covering vast areas, with Kagyu branches especially flourishing.
3. 1241–1250Liangzhou · WuweiMongol prince Köden invited Sakya Pandita to Liangzhou for talks (1247); the Sakya school received Mongol investiture to rule over Tibet's schools, binding the monastery network to the Mongol administrative system; Phagpa later became Imperial Preceptor, and Sakya Monastery became Tibet's religious-political center.
4. 1260–1409Tibet · TibetAfter Phagpa became Imperial Preceptor of the Yuan, relations between the Tibetan Buddhist monastery network and the central dynasty were institutionalized; the sectarian landscape established in the 13th century continued through the Yuan and Ming, with monasteries in Ü-Tsang, Kham-Tibet, and Qinghai forming a clearly hierarchical religious-administrative system.