Samye Debate, also called Council of Lhasa, Council of Samye, Debate of Samye or Great Debate, was an eighth-century debate over whether enlightenment happened gradually or suddenly.
The debate's historicity is contested, and extant accounts of the debate differ on the details of its proceedings.
[1][2] The various accounts agree that the debate was hosted by Tri Songdetsen at Samye Temple and consisted of two factions: the suddenists, represented by the Chinese monk Moheyan, and the gradualists, represented by the Indian monk Kamalaśila.
The debate is discussed in: While the Debate on the Sudden Awakening in the Great Vehicle claims that Moheyan won the debate but committed suicide in disappointment upon seeing the insufficient spiritual capacities of his new students, Tibetan sources claim that Kamalaśīla won.
Both Wangxi and Pudön agree that Moheyan committed suicide shortly after the debate, whether out of disappointment after winning or out of shame after losing, and that Kamalaśīla's gradualist teachings were left to flourish in Tibet.