Sakya

Lore & Background

The Sakya school, whose name means "pale earth," originates from the distinctive grey landscape of the Ponpori Hills in southern Tibet near Shigatse. Its first monastery, Sakya Monastery, was built there in 1073 by Khon Konchog Gyalpo. The tradition emerged during the late 11th century, the second period of translating Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan. It was founded by Drogmi, a scholar and translator who studied for twelve years at Vikramashila under masters including Naropa. The school’s core teachings were established by the "Five Venerable Supreme Masters," beginning with Sachen Kunga Nyingpo. The leadership of the Sakya school is hereditary, passed through male members of the Khön family. A key teaching is the Lamdre ("Path and its Fruit") system, derived from the mahasiddha Virūpa and based on the Hevajra Tantra. Other important transmissions include the Vajrayogini lineage known as "Naro Khachoma," introduced by Mal Lotsawa, and the cycle of One Hundred Sadhanas from Bari Lotsawa. The fourth patriarch, Sakya Pandita, was renowned for his scholarship and wrote influential texts on sutra and tantra. Two main subsects later emerged: the Ngor school, founded by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo, which represents the majority of the Sakyapa school, and the Tshar school, founded by Tsarchen Losal Gyamtso. The three "mother" monasteries of the school are Sakya Monastery, Ngor Evam Choden, and Phanyul Nalendra.

Reader's Guide

The Sakya school's significance lies in its role as a major Tibetan Buddhist tradition with a unique hereditary leadership system, passing authority through the male line of the Khon family. The school's intellectual legacy includes the Lamdre system and the works of Sakya Pandita, as well as later scholars such as Buton Rinchen Drub and the 'Six Ornaments of Tibet.' The Ngor subsect, founded by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo, represents about 85% of the Sakyapa school. The Sakya tradition also contributed to the Rimé movement, as Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgön Kongtrül compiled its teachings alongside those of other schools. Today, the head of the school, Sakya Trizin, is always drawn from the Khon family, and the school has established monasteries internationally, including the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the United States.

Did You Know?

• The name 'Sakya' means 'pale earth' in Tibetan, referring to the grey landscape of the Ponpori Hills where Sakya Monastery was built.
• The main teaching of the Sakya school is the Lamdre ('Path and its Fruit') system, derived from the mahasiddha Virūpa and based on the Hevajra Tantra.
• The leadership of the Sakya school is hereditary, passed down through the male line of the Khon family.

Foundations in the Grey Hills of Southern Tibet

The Sakya tradition takes its name from the distinctive pale, grey terrain of the Ponpori Hills in southern Tibet, near the city of Shigatse. The intellectual roots of the school stretch back to Drogmi, a renowned translator who spent twelve years at the great Indian university of Vikramashila studying under masters such as Naropa, Ratnākaraśānti, and Vāgīśvarakīrti. Khon Konchog Gyalpo, acting on the counsel of his elder brother, became Drogmi's student, and through this lineage the tradition took shape during the second great wave of Sanskrit-to-Tibetan translation in the late eleventh century. To this day, leadership of the Sakya school is inherited exclusively through the male line of the Khon family, a hereditary arrangement that has persisted for nearly a millennium.

A Curriculum of Tantric Lineages and Philosophical Texts

The spiritual heart of the Sakya school is the Lamdre system, meaning "Path and its Fruit," which traces its origin to the mahasiddha Virūpa and is grounded in the Hevajra Tantra. This supreme teaching was transmitted to the school through Drokmi Lotsawa, one of several Indian-trained translators whose lineages converge in the Sakya curriculum. Mal Lotsawa brought the esoteric Vajrayogini practice known as Naro Khachoma, while Bari Lotsawa contributed a vast cycle of tantric exercises called the One Hundred Sadhanas. Additional pillars of the curriculum include the Vajrakilaya, Mahākāla, and Guhyasamāja tantra cycles. The Lamdre itself divides into two streams: the "Explanation for the Assembly" for broader audiences and the "Explanation for Close Disciples" for intimate transmission.

Sakya Lamas as Rulers of Tibet

When the Mongol Empire consolidated its power in the early thirteenth century, the Sakya school found itself at the center of a dramatic political transformation. This period of Sakya political authority endured for roughly seventy-five years following Phagpa's passing, spanning the reigns of figures such as Dharmapala Raksita, Jamyang Rinchen Gyaltsen, Zangpo Pal, and others, until the Red Turban Rebellion of the 1350s fatally weakened the Yuan state. A decade later, the Han-led Ming dynasty replaced the Yuan, ending the era of Sakya feudal lordship and reshaping the political landscape of the Tibetan plateau.

Branches, Monasteries, and the Living Lineage

Over the centuries the Sakya tradition branched into two principal subschools. The Tshar lineage was founded by Tsarchen Losal Gyamtso in the early sixteenth century. The Bodongpa tradition, founded by Bodong Panchen Chögle Namgyel, is regarded by some scholars as yet another offshoot. At the helm of the entire school sits the Sakya Trizin, the "holder of the Sakya throne," always chosen from the male Khon line. The current incumbent, Gyana Vajra, is the forty-third in that unbroken succession.