The History of the Sakya Tradition

Taken from website: http://www.aadz12.ukgateway.net/

Buddhism became established in Tibet from the early 7th century through the tireless efforts of many Tibetans who had become disciples of the great Indian saint Guru Padmasambhava and the abbot Santaraksita.

One of the first seven Tibetans who received complete ordination of a Buddhist monk from the great Indian abbot Santaraksita was Khon Lu'i Wangpo from the Khon family. It was predicted in the Manjushri Tantra that this Holy family's descendants would be manifestations of Mahasiddhas and Bodhisattvas, and that the teachings of the Buddha would flourish due to their activities.

Until the 11th century, the Khon family members remained great upholders of the Nyingma tradition and played a significant role in establishing and propagating the teachings in Tibet, the Land of Snows.

The name of the Sakya (lit. Pale Earth) tradition derives from the unique grey landscape of Ponpori Hills. Here in 1040 the great Bengali Master Atisa, travelling through Tibet from India, saw a vision of numerous seed syllables of Bodhisattvas on the slopes of these hills. He stopped, prostrated and prophesied that this place would witness many emanations of Bodhisattvas in the future.

Subsequently, Khon Konchog Gyalpo (1034-1102) founded the Sakya Monastery there thirty three years later in 1073. He was a disciple of Drogmi Lotsawa from whom he received many deep teachings - especially the precious Lamdre.

Drogue Lotsawa Sakya Yeshi was the first to bring these Lamdre teachings and over 240 other Tantras to Tibet after studying for 12 years in India. It was due to Drogmi's tutorship in Sanskrit and his guidance that many Tibetans became renowned translators, including Marpa and Goe Lotsawa.

The Sakyapas are also known as Lamdre-pas since all the Sakya Khon Masters held this precious Lamdre teaching (Gsun-nag-lam-bras) as their main practice. There were five eminent Khon Sakya Masters (Sakya Gongma Nga) who were revered as manifestations of Bodhisattvas, thus fulfilling the prophecies in the Manjushri Tantra and other sources as Atisa predicted. They were:

Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158) Lopon Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182) Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltshen (1147-1216) Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182-1251) Drogon Choegyal Phagpa (1235-1280)

The latter won the heart of the Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, who honoured him as the "Imperial Preceptor" and made him the Lama to become a King of Tibet. The Khon Sakya Empire ruled Tibet for one hundred years and established the most respectful religious government in Tibetan history. The Sakyapa rulers never abused their political power to convert other traditions to theirs, but attracted and taught many students who either came from other traditions or who later founded new ones.

In Tibet, the great tradition of studying the five major and five minor sciences, and the grading systems of religious and philosophical education were founded by renowned scholars of the Sakyapa School. These were later modified to the Kachupa, Rabjampa and Geshe degrees.

While the Sutras, the Tantras and their commentaries were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, Sakya Pandita's scholastic work on Pramana (Buddhist Logic) became the first and only scholar's work to be translated from Tibetan to Sanskrit.

Due to the Five Founding Masters, Sakya became not only the political capital of Tibet but also the greatest religious and academic centre of the country.

The Sakyapa tradition adopts a dynamic approach of placing equal emphasis on study and practice - thus producing a great number of both learned scholars and highly realised Masters.

Although the Sakyapa tradition remains relatively little known in the West and has the smallest number of monasteries and followers, it is still the tradition that preserves the most accurate Tantric procedures for instance in bestowing empowerment according to the Root Tantras. In the Sakya tradition no high teachings are given publicly in the name of Mahamudra or Dzogchen as these are not allowed to be transmitted without a disciple first being initiated into an appropriate Mandala by a qualified master.