 However, Śāntarakṣita’s contribution to Buddhist philosophy as a whole did not stop in India. He made two trips to Tibet and ultimately spent the last fifteen years of his life there. Śāntarakṣita was one of the most influential figures in the early dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet, founding the first Buddhist monastery at Samyé (bsam yas), serving as its first abbot, ordaining the first seven Tibetan monks (Tib. sad mi mi bdun), and establishing a system of rigorous philosophical study based upon the traditions of learning at the great Indian Buddhist monastic universities such as Nālandā and Vikramaśīla. In affect, Śāntarakṣita (and later, his disciple Kamalaśīla) taught Tibetans how to do philosophy. He introduced Tibetans to a plethora of Indian philosophical views, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, and taught them how to study, critically analyze, and meditate upon these ideas. Several important qualities of Śāntarakṣita’s thought that were unique to him in India, became a fully integrated modus operandi of philosophy in Tibet including his dynamic engagement with competing philosophical views and his integration of Madhyamaka and logico-epistemological thought. Śāntarakṣita’s works were studied among early Tibetan monastic institutions, and his Madhyamakālaṃkāra (MA), along with Kamalaśīla’s Madhyamakāloka, and Jñānagarbha’s Satyadvayavibhaṅga were known as “the teachings of the Easterners” (Tib. shar ba dag) because these three authors were from Bengal. In this way, his influence impacted the spectrum of Tibetan philosophical literature, from the earliest philosophical doxographies (Skt. siddhānta, Tib. grub mtha’) such as Yeshe De’s (ca. 8th c.) Distinguishing the Views (lta ba khyad par) to the commentaries and treatises of numerous prestigious indigenous Tibetan philosophers such as Ngok Loden Sherap (rngog blo ldan shes rab) (1059–1109), Chapa Chökyi Sengé (phwya pa chos kyi seng ge) (1109–1169), Sakya Pandita (sa skya paṇḍita) (1182–1251), Chomden Rikpai Raldri (bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri) (1227–1305), Tsongkhapa (tsong kha pa) (1357–1419) and Mipham Gyatso (mi pham rgya mtsho) (1846–1912).