The Buddhadharma did not come easily to Tibet.
We should be very grateful to King Trisong Deutsen (reign: 755-797 AD). During his time, he really made grand efforts to house the Buddhadharma in Tibet for the long term.
During King Trisong Deutsen’s time, the Dharma was flourishing in India due to the great institutions and scholars and meditators there. To invite them to Tibet from India was an impossible task. Because it required the scholars and masters to travel to Tibet.
Why would they travel to Tibet when they were already comfortable in India, where the Dharma was flourishing? Also, Tibet at that time was nothing. Nobody welcomed the Dharma in Tibet. Nobody understood the value of the Dharma in Tibet.
To travel was not just difficult, but life-threatening. The king’s ancestor, King Songtsen Gompo, sent seven ministers to India from Tibet, to learn the Dharma, and eventually bring it back to Tibet. Of the seven ministers, it is said that only one managed to go back to Tibet alive.
King Trisong Deutsen used his influence, power and wealth to invite hundreds of translators, scholars and Buddhist masters from the different parts of India, including those from the forests and mountains.
To entice Indian and Tibetan scholars in India to travel and bring the Buddhadharma to Tibet, this King prepared mountains of precious offerings, such as gold, precious stones, accompanied by the promise of abundant supply of food, shelter and so on.
These precious offerings and invitations were sent to Nalanda Buddhist University, other places where the scholars resided, and many Indian kingdoms.
Hundreds of Indian and Tibetan scholars, translators and editors accepted the king’s grand offers. They took the challenge, gradually traveled to Tibet, and brought thousands of Buddhist manuscripts. First, Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita came and led the construction of Samye
Monastery, which lasted for three years, Tibet’s first Buddhist monastery.
At Samye, the Tibetans and Indians then began the translation of manuscripts from Sanskrit into Tibetan.
Each translating group was composed of many scholars, translators, editors, writers, checkers and other roles. The process was tedious and precise to ensure the Tibetan equivalent adhered very closely to the meaning of the Sanskrit texts.
King Trisong Deutsen supported all these to bring the Dharma to his kingdom, and plant it for the long term. Thus, through such efforts, the Dharma lasted for more than 1,000 years in Tibet.