Although the Buddha taught the Vajrayana to a restricted group of suitable disciples later in his life, the Vajrayana cycle of teachings did not became popular until the Sixth Century C.E. At that time, many of the great Mahayana masters of scholarship took up the Vajrayana path in their later years and left their institututions to practice Vajrayana tantras.

Between the 7th and 9th centuries, the Tibetan empire was a dominant power in Asia. Tibet had wide authority throughout the Tarim region, which extended into Northern China and Nepal. During the reign of King Songtsen Gampo (born appx. 557 C.E.), a Tibetan script was created which permitted the translation of Buddhist Sanskrit texts into Tibetan. Many great translators over the following centuries performed the amazing feat of translating almost the entire corpus of Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan.

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