Sakya is one of the four different
sects of the Tibetan Buddhism. The Sakyapa tradition
takes its name from the monastery founded in 1073 at
Sakya (‘the place of grey earth’) in south-western
Tibet by Konchog Gyalpo, a member of the Khon clan.
This influential family had previously owed allegiance
to the Nyingmapa tradition but Konchog Gyalpo studied
the theories and methods of the new diffusion of tantras
current in eleventh century Tibet. The most important
of the teachings, which he received from his teacher
Drokmi Lotsava, a disciple of the Indian scholar Gayadhara,
was the meditational system known as the Path and Its
Fruit (Lam-‘Dre).
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Sakya tradition
rose to a position of prominence in the religious and
cultural life of Tibet. This was due largely to the
endeavours of the five great masters: Sachen Kunga Nyingpo
(1092-1158); Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182); Drakpa Gyaltsen
(1147-1216); Sakya Pandita (1182-1251); and Chogyal
Phakpa (1235-1280). Since that time the tradition and
its two principal subsets, the Ngor sub-set founded
by Ngorchen Kunga Sangpo (1382-1457) and the Tsar sub-set
founded by Tsarchen Losal Gyamtso (1502-1556) and Dzongpa
sub-set founded by Dorje Denpa Kunga Namgyal have been
adorned by the labours and spiritual blessings of numerous
illustrious yogis and scholars. Now the Sakya tradition
under the compassionate guidance of His Holiness the
Sakya Trizin (b. 1945), magnificent incarnation of the
Khon line, is putting down roots outside Tibet in India.
His Holiness the Sakya Trizin fled to India in 1959
after the Chinese invasion of Tibet. In exile, His Holiness
met all the religious leaders in 1963 including His
Holiness the Dalai Lama and took permission to set up
a monastery to preserve the Sakya tradition and heritage
of Tibetan religion and culture. Thus He created Sakya
Centre which is located in Rajpur, North of India. Thereafter
Sakya Institute was created at Puruwala to impart higher
education in Buddhist philosophy. At Puruwala, a Tibetan
settlement was also established for the people of Sakya.
Sakya Centre is regarded as the main monastery of His
Holiness the Sakya Trizin and the Sakya Lineage outside
Tibet.
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