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About
- Lineage
Sakya
tradition
Our
teacher, Lama Choedak Yuthok Rinpoche, is a principal pupil
and heart son of His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, head
of the Tsharpa School and teacher of many major Tibetan Buddhist
teachers, including His Holiness. (insert graphic of Lama
Choedak Rinpoche to right of first par)
History
Buddhism
became established in Tibet in 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.
Tibet, the Land of Snows
The name
of the Sakya ("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 33 years later in 1073. He was a disciple of Drogmi
Lotsawa from whom he received many deep teachings - especially
the precious Lamdre.
The
Lamdre teachings
Drogue
Lotsawa Sakya Yeshi was the first to bring these Lamdre teachings
and more than 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.
The
Masters
Five
eminent Khon Sakya Masters (Sakya Gongma Nga) were revered
as manifestations of Bodhisattvas, thus fulfilling the prophecies
in the Manjushri Tantra and other sources as Atisa predicted.
They were -
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 100 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 came from other traditions or 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.
Study
and practice
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.
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