Sakya Sect

The Sakya Sect is one of four major Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other schools are Nying Sect, Kagyu Sect, and Gelug Sect. Since founded in 11 century, Skaya Sect is considered as the important part of Tibet history, which is the beginner of the system of politics and religion.

Sakya Sect – Origin

The name of Sakya Sect ("pale earth") derives from the unique grey landscape of hills in southern Tibet near Shigatse, where Sakya Monastery, the seat of the Sakya School was built in 1073 by Khon Konchog Gyalpo (1034–1102), who became the disciple of Sakya Sect on the advice of his elder brother.

The tradition was established by the "Five Supreme Patriarchs" starting with the grandson of Khon Khonchog Gyalpo, Kunga Nyingpo.

Sakya Sect –Five Supreme Patriarchs

Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092–1158)

When Khon Konchog Gyalpo died in 1102 at the age of 11 years old, he began to learn the Mahayana Buddhism besides the new and old teachings of Buddhism, especially excellent of Tantra study.

Sonam Tsemo (1142–1182)

Sonam Tsemo is the second son of Sachen. According to the history of Sakya Sect, Sonam Tsemo is said that he could propagate Buddhism to the public when he was 3 years old and became excellent in different Tantras at the age of 17 years old.

Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216)

Drakpa Gyaltsen is the third son of Sachen and being intelligent since he was young. He has lived in Sakya Monastery for 57 years and none of Buddhism scriptures he never read.

Sakya Pandita (1182–1251)

Sakya Pandita is the other grandson of Sachen. He is considered in Tibet to be the most important figures among the Sakya lineage. On the other hand, he is known as a great scholar in Tibet, Mongolia, Coastal China and India and was proficient in the five great sciences of medicine, grammar, dialectics and sacred Sanskrit literature as well as the minor sciences of rhetoric, synonymies, poetry, dancing and astrology.

Sakya Pandita died in 1251, at the age of seventy. As he did not marry he chose his brother's son Chogyal Phagpa as his heir and nominated him before his death as his religious authority by giving him his conch shell and begging bowl. The begging bowl was a particular symbol of Buddha Shakyamuni and the Shramana Traditions.

Pakpa (1235–1280)

When he was a child, he gifted with an extraordinary retentive memory and became the debate master. He met and followed Kublai Khan when he was 19 years old and then Chogyal Pakpa became the first vice-king of Tibet and played an important political role. He was also the guru and spiritual advisor of Kublai Khan who is the ruler of the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty.

Sakya Sect –Teachings

Exotoric Buddhism and Esoteric Buddhism (also called Tantra) are the main Buddhism of Tibet, which are both learned in Sakya Sect.

Sachen, the first of the five supreme patriarchs, inherited a wealth of Tantric doctrines from numerous Tibetan translators. The 4th Sakya patriarch, Sakya Pandita, was notable for his exceptional scholarship and wrote many important and influential texts on sutra and Tantra, including Clarifying the Thought of the Sage and Discriminating the Three Vows.

Sakya Sect – Sakya Monastery

The Temples of Sakya Sect mainly built in Tsang and Kham region, which contains the important Sakya Monastery known through the world as the various Buddhism treasure.

Sakya Monastery divided into two parts of south temple and north temple, which the latter one is considered as the foundation of Sakya Monastery. Sakya Monstery was founded in 1073 by Khon Konchog Gyalpo (1034-1102), originally a Nyingma Sect monk of the powerful noble family of the Tsang and became the first Sakya Trizin. Its powerful abbots governed Tibet during the whole of the 13th century after the downfall of the kings until they were eclipsed by the appearance of the new Gelug Sect school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Sakya Monastery is known as the large numbers of cultural treasures containing three categories, some of which are the precious gifts, porcelains and Buddha statues of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, some are Buddhism scriptures besides the Buddha painting such as Buddhism Thangka.