Dharmapala Thangka CentreSchool of Thangka Painting

This thangka depicts Padmasambhabva together with King Trisong Detsen [right] and Śāntarakṣita [left]

Trisong Detsen [Tibetan: ཁྲོ་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བརྩན། ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བཙན, was the 38^th emperor of Tibet. He ruled from AD 755 until 797 or 804. Trisong Dechen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, playing a pivotal role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet and the establishment of the Nyingma or »Ancient« school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Śāntarakṣita [Tibetan: ཞི་བ་འཚོ, 725–788], whose name translates into English as »protected by the One who is at peace« was an important and influential Indian Buddhist philosopher, particularly for the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Śāntarakṣita was a philosopher of the Madhyamakaschool who studied at Nalanda monastery under Jñānagarbha, and became the founder of Samye, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet.