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Holy Biography of the Glorious Sakya Paṇḍita Based on His Own Words

By Drogön Chögyal Phakpa (Lodrö Gyaltsen)¹

Prostrations to the Guru and Mañjuśrī!

Your immaculately pure nature is completely beyond description,

Accomplishes aspirations for others’ benefit, and emanates a multitude of forms;

Protector, Lord of Existence and Peace, your body’s unchangeable nature is the three suchnesses,

I prostrate with pure devotion to you, holy lama, and describe a part of your holy biography.

My lama, the Lord of Dharma, is the real Vajradhāra, but some beings perceive him as and believe him to be a common Dharma teacher. However, I have seen some truly amazing holy events, which follow.

When the Lord of Dharma entered the womb of his mother, Nyitri Yum, a sign appeared in his mother’s dream that a bodhisattva had entered her womb. She dreamed that a beautifully dazzling king of the nāgas, with a precious crown and other jewels, asked her to give him accommodation. While he resided in the womb, his mother’s body felt light, she moved about easily, felt healthy and blissful, and excellent samādhi arose in her mind. At the time of his birth, a multitude of auspicious signs appeared that a bodhisattva had been born.

When my Lord of Dharma had developed to the stage where he could crawl, he spoke to his mother in Sanskrit, which was a sign of the ripening of the habitual tendencies of his previous lives. But because his mother did not understand his words, she was afraid that his speech was abnormal. She told Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen that her son spoke words she could not understand, and asked him if there might be a problem with her son. Drakpa Gyaltsen understood that the child was speaking Sanskrit, and replied that she should not be afraid that her son was abnormal.

The child drew the Indian alphabet in the dust on the ground with his fingers, with the complete vowels and consonants in both Nāgarī and Lanydza scripts. Then, afraid that others may step on it, he erased it. My Lord said that he had learned to read both Sanskrit and Tibetan without being taught so long ago that he did not recall which he had learned first.

When he grew a bit older, he learned without difficulty further studies in Tibetan and Sanskrit, astrology, medicine, arts such as drawing and design, and other subjects. While he was still a youth, he had already become a treasury of wisdom and good qualities. Because of this, many learned masters, including those who were his own teachers, unanimously stated that he was not ordinary, and undoubtedly an emanation of an enlightened one, or a greatly blessed being. All were amazed at his abilities.

While still a youth, he received empowerment from his father,² and studied the Lotus-Born Hevajra Sādhana, including the six-limbed sādhana, the empowerment ritual, the consecration ritual, and the fire puja ritual. From the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra, he studied the teachings of the masters Luipa, Kṛṣṇapa, and Vajra Gantipa and the practical instructions of the offering ritual.

Every day he performed the practices of Ārya Acala, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Uṣṇīṣavijayā, Mārīcī, Vajravidāraṇa, and others. He also received and thoroughly studied Explanation of the Fourteen Root Vows, Fifty Verses on Guru Devotion, the explanation of the bodhisattva vow known as Twenty Vows, the analytic cycle of Vajrapāṇi in the sutric tradition, and many theoretical and practical medical texts. He comprehensively learned all of these. He also gradually received empowerments, blessings, tantric explanations, and pith instructions on the Dharma of the Sakya forefathers and ancestral masters.

At the age of eight, he gave a commentary on the Lotus-Born Hevajra Sādhana. At the age of twelve, he gave a commentary on the second chapter 11of the Hevajra Root Tantra. At the age of fourteen, he explained the common commentary Sāmputa Tantra. By the age of fifteen, he had completely mastered all of the Dharmas belonging to his father and the founders of the Sakya tradition.

One night, when he was eighteen, my Lord dreamed that he received teachings on the Treasury of Abhidharma (Abhidharmakośa) directly from Vasubandhu in front of Achi stupa behind Sakya Monastery. He experienced that night as an entire month. In front of the stupa, his master Vasubandhu faced the east. The master’s complexion was slightly blue and he was not too young, of middle age. In his dream, Sakya Paṇḍita received the complete Abhidharma teachings over a single thirty-day period, each morning for thirty mornings. My Lord of Dharma sat to the right of Master Vasubandhu facing the north, reading the text while receiving the teachings.

When he awoke early the next morning, he had the entire Treasury of Abhidharma in his memory, both the words and their meaning. My master said that later, when he actually received teachings on the Treasury of Abhidharma from the Kashmiri paṇḍita Śākyaśrībhadra, it was identical.

Another time, he dreamed of someone who said, “I want to give you the throne of Master Dignāga. Please follow me.” He then led him to a cave in India that faced east and said, “This is Master Dignāga’s cave.” When the door of the cave opened, my master saw that one side of the cave was filled with texts. He opened the texts and read them. While he was reading, someone came and pulled the hem of his Dharma robe, and he awoke while he had not yet had enough time to read all of the texts. My Lord said that this might have been an indication that in those days he had many distractions and had to give teachings to people from far away, which somewhat interrupted his genuine study of the Dharma. He also said that after this dream, special wisdom arose in him, through which he could unmistakably understand the meaning of logic texts.

At the age of nineteen, he received teachings on logic and the Five Treatises of Maitreya from Master Shuhrul at Trang. When he was twenty, he traveled to meet Master Tsurtön Shönu Sengé at Nyangtö Kyangdul. From him he received a teaching on pramāṇa. After hearing it only one time, he completely and unmistakably knew every word of the teaching and its meaning, and he asked the master for permission to give that teaching to others.

Based on his own experience with study, Master Shuhrul feared that Sakya Paṇḍita had not yet studied enough. Therefore, he said, “You should still study more.” Then my Lord received the first part of the Ascertainment of Valid Cognition (Pramāṇaviniścaya) four times, followed by the latter part of the text twice. Then the master Shuhrul said, “In Tsur, the teachings are as complex as the filaments under the cap of a mushroom. However, I do not feel that these are truly according to the explanations as given in India.”

About this time, my Lord heard that his father and spiritual master was ill and he returned to Sakya, where his father passed away. Intending to perform the appropriate activities on his father’s behalf, he wrote to his master, “Because I need to give a teaching here, I request you to postpone for a time the Dharma teachings.”

His teacher planned to postpone the teachings for a while due to this request, but the other students did not concur. Because the teacher cared greatly about my Lord, the other students could not bear it, especially one student named Yamatak Thengjuk. Yamatak told the master, “If you care so much about the son of the Sakya, that’s okay, we can disperse. But if you need us, too, you must continue without postponement.” Because of this, the master continued the teachings.

My Lord of Dharma soon returned, bringing many material offerings. He also brought Jarchöpa as an attendant. Together they made extensive material offerings, in addition to long, middle-length, and abbreviated sets of the Buddha’s sermons. Then the master Shuhrul said, “Although I could not wait for you, I will go back and teach again from where we left off.” Sakya Paṇḍita told the master that this was not necessary for his sake, so they continued the teachings.

Sakya Paṇḍita also began to teach the master’s students the Ascertainment of Valid Cognition and a commentary on that text, giving two sessions per day based on the teachings of the master. In this way, within a month, he gave both the root and commentary on the Ascertainment of Valid Cognition from memory. The entire assembly was amazed at his ability.

Sakya Paṇḍita received the teaching of the Collection of Madhyamaka Reasoning (Madhyamaka Yuktikāya) from the same master, Tsurtön Shönu Sengé. After that, he returned to Sakya and performed the appropriate rituals of dedication for the departure of his father and spiritual master. 13Having completed these, he collected a large quantity of gold and other material to offer his master, and set out to see him.

On the way, when my Lord reached Tsang, at Chumik Ringmo, he met Śākyaśrībhadra, who was giving Dharmottara’s teachings on pramāṇa logic. My Lord sent his attendant with all of the material offerings to his teacher Tsurtön Shönu Sengé, and remained to receive teachings from Śākyaśrībhadra.

When Śākyaśrībhadra gave teachings in Sanskrit using a Sanskrit text, Sakya Paṇḍita read from the Tibetan text. Seeing this, the young scholars among Śākyaśrībhadra’s students laughed derisively at Sakya Paṇḍita. The abbot asked them why they laughed, and they explained, “We are laughing because while you give the teaching in Sanskrit, he reads from a text in Tibetan.”

Śākyaśrībhadra asked Sakya Paṇḍita, “Is that text of any use to anyone?” Sakya Paṇḍita replied, “Although it is not of use to others, it is of use to me.” Saying thus, he back-translated the teachings and commentaries he had received from the Tibetan text into Sanskrit. Śākyaśrībhadra realized that his translations were identical, and scolded the young scholars, “Why do you laugh at him? The Sakyapa exactly understands what I taught.”

Sakya Paṇḍita told me that he asked Śākyaśrībhadra, “What Tibetan masters teach is said to be barely bluish, but not blue itself. What does this mean?” The Kashmiri paṇḍita answered, “Blue itself exists as it is. But I don’t know what ‘barely bluish’ means.” Through this answer, Sakya Paṇḍita realized the essential point of the entire discipline of logic.

My Lord also received many teachings on logic from the paṇḍita Dānaśilā, as well as teachings on other practices, such as Kurukullā, yoginīs, Mañjuśrī, Rakta Yamāri, White Acala, and others. From Paṇḍita Saṃghaśrī from Nepal, my Lord also studied a cycle of works on the Sanskrit language, and works on logic such as the Commentary on Valid Cognition and others. Sakya Paṇḍita told me in his own holy words, “I am a fortunate person because these days there is no one more learned in Sanskrit than the Nepali master Saṃghaśrī in either the east or west of India, and he came to where I lived so that I could study from him.”

The Kashmiri paṇḍita Śākyaśrībhadra went to Central Tibet. While he was gone, Sakya Paṇḍita invited Paṇḍita Sugataśri to Sakya, and intensively studied Sanskrit, logic, poetry, composition, rhetoric, and other subjects from him for two years.

Later, when Śākyaśrībhadra returned to the region of Tsang, while he was residing at Nyung Chung, Sakya Paṇḍita went to pay his respects and requested the bestowal of full ordination. Śākyaśrībhadra accepted, and at the age of twenty-five, Sakya Paṇḍita shaved his hair at the temple of Nyangmé Gyen, the seat of the great master Lotön, and received ordination at Nyung Chung. At the ceremony, the Kashmiri abbot Śākyaśrībhadra was the principal abbot, Chiwo Lhepa Jangchup Ö served as master of activities, and Master Shuhrul served as master who shows the secrets. The ceremony was also witnessed by other realized and venerated beings among an ocean-like gathering of the sangha.

Śākyaśrībhadra advised him, “Since you have now received full ordination, it is important to be diligent in observing the vows that are to be preserved.” He appointed Venerable Joden as vinaya instructor to Sakya Paṇḍita. This instructor was extremely strict in all observances, and constantly corrected even the most minor infractions.

Next, Sakya Paṇḍita studied the Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition³ from Śākyaśrībhadra, and this teaching was repeated three times. From him, he also studied the commentary on that teaching, as well as supplementary texts such as Ornament for Clear Realization (Abhisamayālaṃkāra), works by Dharmottara, the Treasury of Abhidharma, Vinaya Mūlasūtra, Prātimokṣa Sūtra, Bhikṣukārikā, and other minor teachings on the vinaya. He also studied the commentary on the Kalacakra Tantra, Immaculate Light, and supplementary texts, and the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra and the Guhyasamāja Tantra, with their commentaries and supplementary texts such as those of Nāgārjuna and the tradition of Jñānapada. He received empowerments in these tantras and learned all of them thoroughly.

From Chiwo Lhepa Jangchup Ö, he received the commentary on the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses (Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā) known as “Twenty Thousand,” teachings on the Compendium of Abhidharma (Abhidharmasamuccaya), as well as teaching cycles in the Kadam tradition and some minor teachings on Mantrayāna oral instructions.

Because his meditation had given rise to inconceivably steady samādhi, he was able to realize the relationship between outer and inner interdependence and to prophesy future events. He said that when he meditated or concentrated, nothing whatsoever could disturb him, even amid a crowd of people.

Through the power of receiving the lamas’ blessings, inconceivable 15knowledge of the good qualities of scripture and realization arose in his mind. This is clear because my Lord himself stated:

Sakya Paṇḍita also directly perceived many deities such as Mañjuśrī, Acala, Tārā, and others, and they directly bestowed a multitude of doors of Dharma upon him. Based on this, countless good qualities of meditation arose in his mind.

My Lord Teacher told me:

Prostrations to you who have

thrown off the net of conceptual thought and

possess a profound and vast body, from which

shine ever-noble rays of light in all directions.

Sakya Paṇḍita told me of another dream:

It is said that my Lord received teachings directly, not in dreams, in Sakya Monastery itself, from the space in front of him. He also clearly heard a voice that seemed to arise from his heart, saying, “In your twenty-seven previous lives, without interruption you were born as a paṇḍita, greatly learned in the Commentary on Valid Cognition. Later, he again heard the same voice, but instead of “twenty-seven,” it said “thirty-seven.” He related these things to me himself.

On numerous occasions my Lord said, “It seems that I have habitual tendencies 17from previous lives to study Sanskrit and logic. Because I need no effort whatsoever to learn these subjects.”

Another time, when he gave Dharma teachings, a voice in space or in his heart said, “You are the emanation of Lord Drakpa Gyaltsen and will be able to tame a multitude of sentient beings, including those who were unable to be tamed even by buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.”

My Lord told me, “Later, while I was teaching in the holy shrine of Khadang in Yeru, another voice spoke, ‘This is your spiritual master from many previous lives,’ and I instantly remembered the previous voices.”

Once, when Sakya Paṇḍita manifested slight discomfort, Mañjuśrī, Nāgārjuna, Śāntideva, and other holy beings manifested to comfort him.

Some disciples with pure perception, such as Podon Rinpoché and others, perceived him as inseparable from Mañjuśrī.

My Lord was also clairvoyant. Evidence of this occurred once when my Lord visited the north. While he was there, in the middle autumn month of the Female Wood Snake year (1246), and again in the last autumn month of the Male Iron Dog year (1250), he declared that he would depart for another realm in the Iron Pig year (1251). Some of his close disciples heard and recorded this, and it later occurred just as he had predicted.

Concerning his holy activities, his Dharma teaching was just as described in Well-Explained Reasoning (Vyākhyāyukti). No matter what subject he taught, his explanation was precisely and accurately suited to the students’ needs. His explication included an overview of the topics to be covered, an outline, transitions between topics, refutation of criticisms, and other features. His responses to questions were immediate, effortless, and always precisely according to Dharma. Whenever he taught any of the five major sciences, his teaching was fascinating, delightful to the learned, and cut the net of doubts for both humans and non-humans.

To give an example of this, when my Lord went to Samyé Monastery, the leaders of Samyé invited him to turn the wheel of Dharma. There, he gave most of the Lamdré teachings, and most of an explanation of the Hevajra Root Tantra. When he reached the fifth section of the last chapter of the tantra, he was invited to a celebration by Sinpori, who had a long connection with the hosts, and seated at the head of the assembly. Customarily, in central Tibet, important masters were invited to such ceremonies and given large material offerings. They had a responsibility to participate.

Sakya Paṇḍita continued the remainder of the reading transmission of the tantra. Following this, at the request of the assembly, he gave another Dharma teaching, advice, and blessings, which lasted until late at night. One of the leaders told the gathering, “Our requests are endless. Let’s stop at this point and disperse. The lama’s health may suffer if we make too many requests.” With this they concluded the teachings.

One of the attendants locked the door. Then my Lord napped a bit while seated in meditation posture. He dreamed that a group of ordinary people arrived. They did prostrations, made offerings, and sat in a row. The one who sat at the head of the row asked my Lord, “Doesn’t every mother sentient being experience the suffering of the four major torrents of birth, old age, illness, and death?” My Lord responded, “Yes, it is exactly so.” “In that case, is there any supplication prayer that is of benefit in those situations?” Sakya Paṇḍita responded, “In those situations, you may recite the following prayer:

Despite understanding birth as birthless,

I am still not freed from the cage of birth;

in every birth, in whatever birth I take birth,

protect me from birth in an inferior birth.

“Thus you should pray.”

Then the people asked, “In that case, is it permissible to replace ‘illness,’ ‘aging,’ and ‘death,’ with ‘birth’ in this prayer?” My Lord responded, “Yes, you are allowed to do so.” He felt that the people understood the meaning of the verse. The people did prostrations and requested, “Please keep us in your holy mind.” Thus my Lord dreamed, and he told me that when he awoke and contemplated the meaning of the verse, he realized that it was suitable.

Regarding Sakya Paṇḍita’s composition, it is said that texts can be composed for two purposes: primarily to benefit others, and primarily to demonstrate elegant composition. When composed primarily to benefit others, the words and meaning of his texts are flawless, logical, clear, in harmony with the sūtras and tantras, and beyond criticism, even by the most learned. Indeed, all of his writing is amazingly beautiful.

Some of his works were composed primarily to demonstrate elegance in 19composition, such as Homage to the Sugātas [in Lhasa], Beseeching the Compassion of the Sugatas, and Jewel Treasury of Elegant Sayings. All of these works are beautifully composed, the words and meaning are in balance, and the metaphors do not contradict the meaning behind them. Clear distinctions are made between the types of prose, heavy and light accents, and long and short sounds. The words and punctuation beautify and ornament the compositions.

Although they are elegantly written, their meaning is clear, and the poetry is easy to recite and pleasant to hear. All of his writings are as works of pure gold, ornamented by jeweled tassels of precious stones such as rubies. It could also be said that they are like a garland of perfect pearls, extremely beautiful and elegantly composed. When his compositions are read or heard by others, they delight the learned, are suitable for quotation by the intelligent, and are the object of admiration by the wise.

Concerning Sakya Paṇḍita’s skill in debate, because he possessed peerless intelligence and had attained fearless courage through realizing the meaning of every scripture exactly and correctly, all of his speech was flawless, and his statements faultless. His words were beyond criticism, and therefore, the courage of every challenger quailed. He defeated many Tibetan masters who were known as great scholars and outshone many Buddhist paṇḍitas of India.

He also defeated masters of other religions. For instance, the Indian Brahmanical scholar Harinanda was famous throughout India for his learning. When he heard of the fame of Sakya Paṇḍita, he came to Tibet to challenge him to debate, together with six other learned Hindu masters. Sakya Paṇḍita thoroughly defeated all of them with his wisdom and placed them in the right view.

In this way, my Lord’s entire life passed with his mind resting in the profound samādhi of the two stages. Until the age of sixty-three, he engaged in study, contemplation, meditation, teaching, composition, and debate in Tibet. In this way he served the Buddhadharma, and like the ascent of the morning sun, his fame pervaded the world.

Once, Sakya Paṇḍita’s teacher Jetsun Rinpoché Drakpa Gyaltsen told him of his future, saying, “Later in your life, people from the northern lands will come to you speaking a foreign tongue, wearing hats like flying hawks and shoes with toes like the nose of a pig. They will invite you to their homeland. At that time, do not decline their invitation, 20and go without hesitation. This will be of great benefit for the Buddha’s doctrine and many sentient beings.”

In the latter part of my Lord’s life, his fame reached the ears of Godan Khan.⁴ The khan said, “I have heard that in Tibet there is a famous Buddhist teacher known as ‘Sakyapa.’ I wish him to be invited here.” Thus, he sent his general Dorta to invite my Lord. When Dorta arrived in Sakya and offered an invitation letter from the khan, my Lord remembered the prophecy of Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen and gladly accepted the invitation.

In the Male Wood Dragon year (1245), at the age of sixty-three, my Lord set out from Sakya with two nephews. On his journey, many famous learned masters and other fortunate disciples with great faith requested empowerments, blessings, explanations of tantra, and pith instructions. He fulfilled each person’s request according to their needs, and turned the wheel of Dharma in many places. Traveling thus, the journey took three years.

On the way, a Kadam master known as Namkha Bum asked him, “Is there any reason that you can benefit the land of Hor⁵ by your presence?” Sakya Paṇḍita responded, “They said, ‘You must come to Hor be our spiritual teacher, for if you refuse I will send an army to Tibet.’ As he has written thus, I fear that if war were to start, great harm would befall Tibet. Therefore, I have embarked, hoping to benefit beings, but I have no certain evidence that I can be of benefit. Generally, if it is of benefit to other beings, I have not the slightest resistance to giving up everything, even my body and life, which is all that I have.”

Once, when Sakya Paṇḍita was traveling in Drosang, someone offered him a quantity of black fabric with a pattern of golden dots. He gave the fabric to one of his followers, a physician named Biji, saying, “Keep this fabric. In the future, our Sakya teachings will become like stars shining in a cloudless sky. Although some say that the Sakyapa reject ringsel relics, concerning this, it is said:

Most ringsel arise from spirits,

or possibly from wholesomeness,

or arise from the four elements.

Ringsel of the three enlightened ones

are produced by the power of good qualities.

Such ringsel arise from an authentic source;

their number is uncountable

and increases without decline.

“If I produce ringsel, an uncountable number will arise. You should cherish them and wrap them in this fabric. Of course, I am only jesting, so do not tell others, as it will create unwholesomeness.”

When Sakya Paṇḍita was sixty-five, in the eighth month of the year of the Male Fire Horse (1247), he reached the khan’s palace in Lanzhou. At that time, Godan Khan had gone to the land of Hor for the celebration of the enthronement of Guyuk Khan. He returned to Lanzhou in the beginning of the next year, the year of the sheep (1248), and had an audience with Sakya Paṇḍita in the palace. The khan was delighted to meet Sakya Paṇḍita and they had a relaxed discussion of Dharma and ordinary affairs.

Before Sakya Paṇḍita arrived in Lanzhou, there were already some Tibetan monks at the palace. However, they had been unable to demonstrate any special activities to evidence the good qualities of the Buddhadharma. Because of this, at gatherings in the palace to perform aspirations and prayers, the Mongolian folk practitioner Erkawun and the oracles of Hor were seated at the head of the assembly and led the chanting of aspiration prayers.

The Lord of Dharma, Sakya Paṇḍita, and Godan Khan engaged in extended intensive discussions of Dharma. When the khan could not understand various important points, scholars and practitioners from Uyghur assisted him. Through this, the khan came to have a good understanding of the meaning of the Dharma, and he was delighted to receive teachings from Sakya Paṇḍita.

Soon, the khan decreed to his subjects that the Mongolian practitioner Erkawun and the oracles should not sit ahead of the Buddhist monks and that the Lord of Dharma, Sakya Paṇḍita, should preside at the head of the assembly. He also decreed that throughout the land, Buddhist monks should lead the chanting of aspirations and prayers, and that their position should be venerated.

Godan Khan had a skin disease, and Sakya Paṇḍita performed many healing rituals for him, including making water and torma offerings. Early one morning during the period in which these rituals were being performed, on the eleventh day of the third month of the Year of the Sheep (1247), 22Sakya Paṇḍita dreamed that a crippled being with a body covered in sores and spots came to visit him. Sakya Paṇḍita asked his identity, and he replied, “My leader has been summoned by the Sakyapa, but his body is too weak from illness to travel, so he sent me in his place to respond to your summons.”

In his dream, Sakya Paṇḍita replied, “Godan Khan sent a messenger to Tibet and invited me from that distant land. I am residing in his palace in response to his invitation and therefore wish to benefit him. What is the cause of his illness? What will cure his disease?”

The crippled one replied:

Indeed, many weak and nearly dead frogs and tadpoles hung from the crippled being’s body. He said:

My Lord intended to ask what rituals would benefit the leader, but due to a small hindrance, the crippled being disappeared. My Lord recounted this story to me.

To heal the khan’s disease, Sakya Paṇḍita performed the ritual of Siṃhanāda. This completely cured his skin disease, and the khan became extremely devoted to Sakya Paṇḍita. He received profound and vast Dharma teachings, beginning with the bodhisattva vow from the Mahāyāna tradition, as well as teachings on many texts. He venerated Sakya Paṇḍita highly, and from that time on Sakya Paṇḍita bestowed many Dharma teachings in a multitude of languages for different ethnic groups. Through this, those who were not previously devoted to Buddhism were placed in the path of the Buddha, and those who were devoted were placed on the path of the Mahāyāna. In short, he placed countless sentient beings on the stage of maturation and liberation and caused the Buddhist doctrine to flourish throughout the land.

After remaining in the palace and teaching the Dharma for some time, the Lord of Dharma set out with the intention to return to Tibet. However, in his transcendent wisdom, he realized that remaining in the north would be of much greater benefit to the doctrine and to beings. Therefore, he remained there at leisure, sending generous material gifts to his stud