Sakya Pandita[1]Kunga Gyeltsen (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་པཎ་ཌི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན,Wylie:Sa skya Paṇḍita Kun dga’ rgyal mtshan[1]) who lived from (1 April 1182[2] – 28 December 1251[3]) was aTibetan spiritual leader andBuddhist scholar and the fourth of the FiveSakya Forefathers (Wylie:sa skya gong ma lnga).[4] Künga Gyeltsen is generally known simply asSakya Pandita (orSapan for short), a title given to him in recognition of his scholarly achievements and knowledge ofSanskrit. He is held in the tradition to have been an emanation ofManjusri, the embodiment of the wisdom of all the Buddhas.[5]
Sakya Pandita was also known as a great scholar inTibet,India,Mongolia andChina and was proficient in the five great sciences of Buddhist philosophy, medicine, grammar, dialectics and sacredSanskrit literature as well as the minor sciences of rhetoric, synonymies, poetry, music, dancing and astrology. He is considered to be the fourth Sakya Forefather and sixthSakya Trizin and one of the most important figures in the Sakya lineage.
Sakya Pandita was born as Palden Dondup atSakya in the noble family of Jamyanggön (Khön).[6] This lineage had held the abbotship of Sakya on a hereditary basis since 1073. His father was Palchen Öpoche (1150–1203) and his mother Machig Nyitri Cham. Sakya Pandita was the nephew ofJetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216), and became the principal disciple of this prominent scholar.[7] He was instructed in thesutras andtantras by Dragpa Gyaltsen and mastered Sanskrit and three Inner Asian languages. Eventually he was initiated as aśrāmaṇera by his master and given the religious name Künga Gyeltsen.
As a young monk, he visited the prominentKashmiri scholarŚākyaśribhadra, who ordained him as abhikśu in 1208, and taught him sutras and mantras. Legend has it that he visitedKyirong on his way back, and there defeated abrahmanShastri in a debate on logic. He then overcome his opponent in a contest of supernatural powers. As he wanted to show his fellow Tibetans the peculiar dress ofIndian Brahmin priests, he brought the Shastri to Tibet where he was killed by the protective deities of the land. The Shastri's head was then tied to a pillar of the great temple in Sakya which remained until modern times.[8][9] The experience of Sakya Pandita with Indian learning provided a notablyIndian influence to his scholarship later on. His ordination as bhikśu marked the inception of Sakya as a proper monastic order.[10] He acceded asdansa chenpo or abbot-ruler of Sakya upon the death of his uncle Dragpa Gyaltsen in 1216.
According to later Tibetan historiography,Genghis Khan subjugated a king of Tibet in 1206 and then sent a letter to the Sakya abbot. After the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, the Tibetans stopped sending tribute. This is, however, a legend without historical foundation.[11] It is known, however, that the grandson of Genghis Khan and second son ofÖgedei Khan,Godan Khan was granted an appanage at Liangzhou (present-dayWuwei, Gansu) in 1239. In 1240 he sent an invasion force under Dorta into Tibet. TheMongols reached the Phanyul Valley north ofLhasa, killing some 500 monks and destroying and looting monasteries, villages and towns. The Gyal Lhakhang Monastery went up in flames and many monks of theReting Monastery were slaughtered by the horsemen.[12] TheDrigung Monastery was saved, ostensibly since the Mongols believed that a sudden avalanche of stones could be attributed to the supernatural powers of the lamas. According toL. Petech, theReting Monastery itself escaped destruction when Dorta reachedDam, and its abbot suggested the Mongols to contact Sakya Paṇḍita, who was a famous author and religious figure and could represent the Tibetans vis-à-vis the Mongols.[13] According to J.Y. Chang, it was rather the Drigung abbot who made the proposal.[14] Later chronicles assert that Dorta sent message to Prince Godan and enumerated the four foremost sects and lamas of Tibet:Kadam,Taklung,Drigung, and Sakya. Godan drew the conclusion that Sakya Pandita was an important and wise lama who could show the road to salvation, and ordered to send a letter of "invitation" and presents to him.[15] The actual reason for selecting the Sakya might have been that the sect was specialized in magic rituals that resonated with Mongol beliefs, and was prominent in spreading Buddhist morality. It was also important that Sakya Paṇḍita was a religious hierarch by birth, and thus represented a dynastic continuity useful for the Mongol aim to rule via respected intermediaries.[16]
In fact, recent research has shown that the letter of summons sent by Godan is a later fabrication.[13] Nevertheless, Sakya Pandita was indeed summoned to come to Godan's royal camp at Liangzhou in 1244. The cleric left Sakya in the company of his two young nephews, the ten-year-oldPhagpa and six-year-old Chakna Dorje. As he continually preached sermons along his way he did not arrive at Prince Godan's camp until 1246. There he had to wait for Godan who at the time participated in theKurultai whereGüyük Khan was enthroned. Sakya Paṇḍita and Godan first met in early 1247.[17] He gave religious instruction to the prince and greatly impressed the court with his personality and powerful teachings. He is also said to have cured Prince Godan of a serious illness, probablyleprosy.[18] In return, he was allegedly given "temporal authority over the 13 myriarchies [Trikor Chuksum] of Central Tibet."[19] Since the myriarchies were not yet constituted by this time the story is not entirely correct. It should be understood in the sense that Sakya Paṇḍita was used as the main agent of the Mongols in Tibetan affairs. Tibetan historians quote a long letter by his hand to the various clerical and temporal lords in Tibet in 1249. In order to spare Tibet from devastating invasions, he wrote, it was necessary that the local regimes unconditionally accepted Mongol overlordship. A census was to be taken, and the lords must henceforth carry out the administration in consultation with envoys dispatched by Sakya and in accordance with Mongol law.[20] However, the sources keep silent about the actual imposition of Mongol rule in these years. The death of Güyük Khan in 1248 led to internal rivalries in the dynasty of Genghis Khan until the enthronement ofMöngke Khan in 1251. This left Tibetan affairs in a state of limbo for the time being.[21]
Sakya Pandita died on 28 November 1251, at the age of seventy, in the Trulpaide temple in Liangzhou.[22] He chose his brother's son Chogyal Phagpa as his heir, and nominated him before his death as the successor to his religious authority by giving him his conch shell and begging bowl.[23] After his death Phagpa continued his mission.[24] The conch is one of theAshtamangala and the begging bowl was a particular symbol ofGautama Buddha and theśramaṇas.
After Sakya Pandita's death, the new Mongol rulerMöngke Khan chose to patronize theDrikung Kagyu while the other main schools were put under the protection of various Mongol princes. Nevertheless, a decree from 1252 stated that the Sakya precepts should be followed in the main. Meanwhile, Phagpa won a position in the court of Möngke's brotherKublai Khan and became the tantric guru of the prince in 1258. When Kublai came to power in 1260 he appointed Phagpaguoshi "preceptor of the kingdom".[25] Thus began a strong Sakya-Mongol alliance, and the seat ordensa (Wylie:gdan sa) of Sakya became the administrative capital of Tibet in 1264. This lasted until about the middle of the 14th century. During the reign of the 14thSakya Trizin,Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen, the myriarchTai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen of thePhagmodrupa dynasty began to subordinate the Central Tibetan provinceÜ, marking the "beginning of the end of the period of Sakya power in Central Tibet."[26][27]
In the lineage of theTibetanPanchen Lamas there were considered to be four Indian and three Tibetantulkus ofAmitābha beforeKhedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama. The lineage starts withSubhuti, one of the original disciples ofGautama Buddha. Sakya Paṇḍita is considered to be the second Tibetan emanation of Amitābha in this line.[28][29]
He is best known for his works such as theTreasury of Logic on Valid Cognition (Tshad ma rigs pa'i gter) and theDiscrimination of the Three Vows (sDom-gsum rab-dbye).[7] He produced five major works in all, the other three beingThe Entrance Gate for the Wise (Mkhas pa rnams 'jug pa'i sgo),Clarifying the Sage's Intention (Thub pa'i dgongs gsal), and theElegant Sayings of Sakya Pandita (sa skya legs bshad).[30] The latter is a collection of moral precepts in verse which was imitated by others and translated intoMongolian.[31]
Sakya Pandita focused on doctrine and logic "basing himself upon thePramanavarttika ofDharmakirti" and was very interested in rhetoric. With his profound knowledge ofIndian Buddhism, Sakya Paṇḍita was observant of what he saw as aberrations inTibetan Buddhism. He was suspicious of lamas who promised enlightenment without going through the consecutive stages of Buddhist practices, and he took a more conservative view. The scholastic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism owes much to him, and his works are still included in the monastic curricula today.[32]
According to José Cabezón, Sakya Pandita wrote numerous critiques of Tibetan Buddhist doctrines of his time. He was very concerned with refuting what he considered to be false views and practices in Tibet.[33] In hisTreasure of Reasoning (Rigs gter), he roundly critiques Chapa Chökyi Sengé's (1109–1169) interpretation of Dharmakirti's thought.[33]
Sakya Pandita is also known as a critic of a certain kind ofMahamudra theory and practice called White Panacea (dkar po chig thub) or “self-sufficient white remedy.” According to Cabezon, this "is the doctrine that “the realization of the nature of mind is sufficient in and of itself to bring about spontaneously and instantaneously the simultaneous consummation of all virtuous qualities, includingBuddhahood itself.”"[34]
Sapan focused his critique on the figure ofGampopa (1079–1153), and his disciple, Zhang Tshal pa (1123–93).[34] His critique was influential on numerous later figures, including theFifth Dalai Lama (1617–82),Jamyang Shepe Dorje Ngawang Tsondrü (1648–1722) and the Second Belmang, Konchok Gyeltsen (1764–1853).[34]
HisTreatise on Music provides valuable historical information about liturgical music theory and performance practice.[35][36]
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Source:[38]
貝欽沃波之妻瑪久噶爾布瑪尼日江生了兩個兒子。長子為法主薩迦班智達貢噶堅贊貝桑布，他生於其父三十三歲的陽水虎年（壬寅，公元1182年）二月二十六日，年青時即學習和領會了父祖的全部教法。他在未出家之前名叫上師貝丹頓珠。
薩迦班智達護持法座三十五年，於七十歲的陰鐵豬年（辛亥，公元1251年）十一月十四日，在諸種異兆伴隨下在涼州幻化寺去世。在該地建有紀念他的佛塔，並經常祭祀。
| Preceded by none | Sakya lama of Tibet (Mongol protégé) 1247–1251 | Succeeded by |
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