Within the Tibetan Buddhist world, the Nyingma tradition is commonly associated above all with Guru Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, the great tantric master whose presence in Tibet shaped the earliest contours of this school. He is often regarded as the founding figure because his teachings and spiritual activities provided the matrix from which the Nyingma lineage emerged. From a traditional perspective, the living current of Nyingma practice flows most directly from his transmissions and blessings. Thus, when practitioners speak of the origins of this tradition, Padmasambhava stands at the heart of the story.

At the same time, the emergence of Nyingma cannot be reduced to the activity of a single individual, however extraordinary. The Indian scholar Śāntarakṣita and the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen are also regarded as indispensable to the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet and, by extension, to the formation of the Nyingma school. Their combined efforts—royal patronage, philosophical grounding, and tantric mastery—created the conditions in which these teachings could take root. In this sense, Nyingma arises from a confluence of enlightened intention, learned guidance, and supportive worldly authority.

From a contemplative standpoint, this shared origin story points to a subtle teaching: spiritual traditions are rarely the work of one person alone, but unfold through the interdependence of many realized beings and devoted patrons. Nyingma remembers Padmasambhava as its central founding presence, while also honoring Śāntarakṣita and Trisong Detsen as co-creators of the environment in which these teachings could flourish. To reflect on the founding of this tradition is therefore to contemplate how wisdom, compassion, and conducive circumstances must come together for a lineage to be born and sustained.