Mt. Meaning "to fly and never fall", the Tholing Monastery is renowned throughout the Ngari region. Yeshi-O, the outstanding king of the Guge Kingdom, established the monastery around the beginning of the 10th century to expand and develop Buddhism in Tibet. Yeshi-O was a devout Buddhist who sent 21 youths to learn Tantric Buddhism in Kashmir, India. Only Rinchen Zangpo and another made it back alive. After his return, Rinchen Zangpo, the greatest Buddhist adapter and interpreter, began translating Buddhist sutras and developed Buddhism at Tholing. Later, Yeshi-O was defeated and captured in an ambitious campaign launched in an attempt to plunder and gather enough gold to bribe Atisa, a famous Indian monk, to leave India and join his Guge Kingdom. Yeshi-O's captors demanded a hefty ransom of gold. Yeshi-O's nephew collected the desired amount, but Yeshi-O refused to have the money used for his release and instead ordered him to bring the gold to Atisa in India. Thus, Yeshi-O sacrificed his life in order to lure Atisa to Tibet. After Atisa's arrival, the monastery gained a higher reputation and at once became a religious center in Tibet under the royal patron of the Guge Kingdom. Although it faded after the collapse of the Guge Kingdom, Tholing still maintains an important place in Tibet, even after 900 years, in consideration of its significance in the second transmission of Buddhism into Tibet.