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THE SAKYA TRADITION
The Sakya tradition takes its name from the place of its first monastery, which was built in the Tsang
province in upper Tibet, and means grey earth. The Sakya lineage is closely bound to the Khön ancestral
lineage, and its founder is Khön Könchog Gyalpo (1034-1102) who is said to have descended from
celestial beings. The whole lineage has been passed down intact up to the present time. The Sakya
lineage belongs to the New Translation tradition; their lineage came to Tibet only after the 11th century
revival of Buddhism, and their texts are part of the new wave of translations from India initiated by the
great translator Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055).
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The original main teacher, to which the Sakya tradition traces its doctrinal
view and lineage, is the Indian Mahasiddha Virupa. Virupa lived from
837-909 CE, and is said to have attained realization in 897. Virupa was
probably born into a royal family, but from an early age perceived that
cyclic existence was full of suffering. He renounced the worldly life and
became a monk at the great university of Nalanda. He was very intelligent,
and after becoming a great scholar became the abbot of Nalanda.
During the daytime he gave teachings on Mahayana, debated and wrote
treaties. The nighttime he spent practicing and meditating. His main deity
yoga practice was Hevajra, and the pith instructions he followed were the
teachings on LamDre, the Path and Result. This is why the main practices
of the Sakya lineage are the Yogas on the mandala of Hevajra and the
LamDre teachings.
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After attaining great realization he left the monastery and became a Mahasiddha. He realized the
essence of the three baskets (Tripitaka) of Vinaya, Sutra and Abhidharma as well as tantric teachings
and combined it in a short text which is known as the ‘Vajra Words’, the root text of the LamDre. It is the
very essence of the Buddha’s teachings and was passed on to students up to this day. Virupa’s main
student Krishnapa received the lineage and passed it on to Damarupa, who passed it to Avadhutipa, who
himself became the teacher of Gayadhara. These five are called the five Indian masters.
Gayadhara was the teacher of the great translator Drogmi Lotsawa (992-1072), who then introduced the
LamDre teachings and the tradition to Tibet. Khön Könchog Gyalpo then became a holder of the LamDre
teachings, and after the foundation of the Sakya monastery the lineage remained within this tradition.
Khön Könchog Gyalpo’s son Sachen Kunga Nyingpo was a person of uncommon faculties and spiritual
attainment who held all the lineages of tantric and sutric teachings of Virupa. He had four sons, who all
were learned scholars, visionary practitioners, or great teachers. From then onwards the lineage holders
of Virupa’s LamDre teachings in Tibet remained within the family structure of the Sakyas.
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The grandson of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo was the famous Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182-1251).
Sakya Pandita studied all the important subjects of Tibetan sciences and Buddhist and non-Buddhist
Philosophy with countless Indian, Nepalese, Kashmiri and Tibetan masters and achieved mastery over
them. His most important works, the Treasury of Logic on Valid Cognition and the Discrimination of the
Three Vows, are famous even to this day.
At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan, leader of the Mongols, was endangering the Western
borders of central Asia and China. In 1239, his second son Godan Khan invaded Tibet and came within
80km of Lhasa. Godan Khan was so impressed by the spiritual presence of the Sakya lama that he
invited him to give teachings in Mongolia. This established a patron-priest relationship between the
Mongols and the Sakyapas, an arrangement further advanced by the next generations and upheld for
over 100 years. Godan’s son, Kublai Khan, ardently supported Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, Sakya Pandita’s
nephew. Phagpa also invented a new Mongolian script which allowed writing of the Mongolian language.
Kublai Khan himself converted to Buddhism and presented Phagpa with the de facto rule of Tibet. Thus
Phagpa was the first Tibetan to gain religious and secular authority over the whole country.
For nearly 75 years after Phagpa’s demise (1280), the Sakya lamas continued to serve as viceroys of
Tibet on behalf of the Mongol emperors, until the Sakyapas lost both powerful protector and patron when
the Chinese Emperor subjugated the Mongols. Political power was then lost to the ascending Phagmo
Drupa Kagyü.
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In the early 14th century, the Sakya lineage split into four dynastic houses: Zhithog, Rinchen Gang,
Lhakhang and Ducho, of which only the last dynasty has survived. In the fifteenth century, the lineage
holder of the Ducho dynasty had four sons. Two of them were householders, while the other two were
ordained. From these two lay practitioners emerged two sub-dynasties or palaces, the Dolma Phodrang
and the Phuntsok Phodrang. These two remain to this day, and the leadership of the Sakya has
traditionally been handed down within these palaces, alternating from generation to generation and
according to the level of education and training. The present Sakya throne holder, Kyabje Sakya Trizin,
is Ngawang Kunga Thekchen Rinpoche and is from the Dolma Phodrang, while the head of the Phuntsok
Phodrang is Dagchen Rinpoche.
Since there is a strong emphasis on the principal holders of the Sakya tradition, the most important
lineage holders and authors of the tradition are known as the Five Hierarchs of the Sakya tradition.
These are Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Sonam Tsemo, Dakpa Gyaltsen, Sakya Pandita and Drogön Chögyal
Phagpa. After these five principal authors, there are the six scholars called the Six Ornaments of Tibet:
Yagdön Sangye Päl and Rongtön Mawe Sengye were renowned for their knowledge on sutras; Ngorchen
Kunga Zangpo and Zongpa Kunga Namgyal were learned in the tantras; and Künkhyen Korampa Sonam
Sengye and Shakya Chogden were learned both in sutra and tantra. Among these, the studies of the
uncommon, Sakya specific views and tenets as well as the study of sutra and tantra are based on the
writings of Korampa Sonam Sengye.
As witnessed in other schools, sub-schools emerged within the Sakya tradition and are known as the
three schools of Sakya (Sa-Ngor-Tsar-sum). The Ngor-lineage is a line of teachings within the discipline
instituted by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1457) and successive masters, whereas the Tsar tradition
is the lineage of Tsarchen Losel Gyatso (1502-56) concerning the Thirteen Golden Texts of Tsar, which
include the secret doctrines of the greater or lesser Mahakala, Vajrayogini and others. The Sakya school
is the main trunk of the tree, while Ngor and Tsar are like branches.
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