Guru Padmasambhava, came to Tibet in 817 C.E. at the invitation of King Trisong Deutsan in order to subdue the evil forces then impeding the spread of Buddhism. Guru Rinpochey, as he is popularly known, bound all evil spirits by oath and transformed them into forces compatible with the spread of Buddhism. In collaboration with the great Bodhisattva Abbot Shantarakshita, Guru Rinpochey then built Samyey monastery, which became a principal centre of learning and the site where many of the texts that would make up Tibet's vast Buddhist literature were first translated into Tibetan.

Guru Rinpochey also gave widespread teachings from the highest classes of tantra and in particular to his twenty-five principal disciples.