Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava, also known as the Precious Guru, is a central figure in Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava means ‘Lotus-born’, which refers to Guru Rinpoche’s birth from a lotus in the land of Oddiyana. He was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from medieval India.

Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who taught  Vajrayana in Tibet during the 8th and 9th centuries. He is a central figure in the transmission of Buddhism in Tibet and helped construct the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet, Samye Monastery. He is highly revered in Vajrayana Buddhism and is regarded as a fully enlightened Buddha who serves infinite sentient beings.

In Himalayan Buddhism, he is considered the second Buddha and the Buddha of every form and teaching of enlightenment. Guru Padmasambhava, from a set of thangka depicting his eight manifestations.