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Sakya Choekhor Lhunpo - The Melbourne Sakya Centre Representing the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in Melbourne  |
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The History of the Sakya Tradition
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:
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. Presently the Sakya tradition is under the leadership of the 41st throne holder of Sakya, His Holiness Sakya Trizin. As with other traditions of Tibetan Buddhsim, a number of sub-divisions of the main Sakya tradition have emerged and the two main sub-sects are known as Ngorpa and Tsharpa. In addition, the smaller Dzongpa sub-sect is also uniquely identified. The Ngorpa sub-sect was founded by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1457) with the establishment of the Ngor Evam Moastery in 1430. The current head of Ngorpa sub-sect is His Eminence Ludhing Khen Rinpoche. The Tsharpa sub-sect was founded by Tsarchen Losal Gyatso (1502-1556) with the establishment of the Dar Drongmoche Monastery. The head of Tsharpa sub-sect was His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, who passed away in March, 2007. The political relationship between the main Sakya tradition, as headed by His Holiness Sakya Trizin, and that of the subsects can be likened to that of a central government and regional governments. Sakya Choekhor Lhunpo represents the main Sakya tradition in Melbourne. Overall the Sakyapa tradition adopts a dynamic approach of placing equal emphasis on study and practice - which has produced 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. * This article was based on material originally found on the following websites: http://www.aadz12.ukgateway.net/ and http://sakya.thinkbig.ca/ |
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.
(Updated on Wednesday, 2 December, 2009 9:29 PM)
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