The following is an excerpt from Sakya Paṇḍita: Three Biographies chosen and introduced by His Holiness the Sakya Trichen.
Introduction
The biographies of great masters are a powerful source of inspiration for practitioners. From biographies we can learn how the earlier gurus proceeded on the spiritual path; how they studied and practiced; what helped them develop their experience; and how they attained realization. In this way, we can then try to follow in their footsteps. For me personally, biographies are a very, very important source of inspiration, especially the biography of Sakya Paṇḍita.
I am, of course, not only a practitioner in the same religious tradition as Sakya Paṇḍita, but am also a descendant of the same Khön Sakypa family lineage. From a very young age, I received Sakya Paṇḍita’s blessing rituals and initiations, learned his biography, heard stories of his great wisdom and knowledge, and tried to emulate how he practiced. Not only members of the Khön family, but members of all Sakya monasteries and nunneries honor his anniversary days, perform his guru yoga practice, and, of course, study his writings.
This book contains three biographies of Sakya Paṇḍita (1182–1251) by Drogön Chögyal Phakpa (1235–80), Gorampa Sönam Sengé (1429–89), and Jamgön Ameshab (1597–1659). They each have their own way of understanding how the great master cultivated his good qualities, and they wrote primarily to inspire themselves. They also drew on different historical sources or, in the case of Chögyal Phakpa, personal memories. Although each of the biographers provides a similar account of the major events of his life, each highlights different aspects and inner qualities. Taken together, an amazing and inspiring account of this great master arises.
Sakya Paṇḍita was the fourth of the five great founders of the Sakya order. Sakya Paṇḍita’s great-grandfather, Khön Könchok Gyalpo, established a monastery in the Sakya region of Tibet in 1073. Khön Könchok Gyalpo’s son, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, is considered the first of the five founders of the Sakya order. Sachen Kunga Nyingpo’s sons, Sönam Tsemo and Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, were the second and third founders; they were pure lay-vow holders and did not marry or take a consort. Sakya Paṇḍita was the son of their brother, Palchen Öpo, and was tutored from childhood by his uncle, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen. Sakya Paṇḍita’s own nephew and student, Drogön Chögyal Phakpa, became the fifth of the five founders. They were all very learned scholars and realized masters.
"An amazing and inspiring account of this great master arises."
Sakya Paṇḍita’s life was inspiring, and we can learn from virtually every aspect of it. He was a such a great master that his influence still shapes Tibetan Buddhism today. His thoughts, words, and deeds were influential not only to the Sakyapa. He also made important contributions to the religious and political landscape of Tibet, Mongolia, and now also the West.
There are many logical reasons, prophecies, and quotations that make us believe that Sakya Paṇḍita was no ordinary human being, but a true emanation of Mañjuśrī, and that his mind fully possessed every type of wisdom. We believe that he was already enlightened, and like the Buddha, came to this world in the form of a human being in order to show us how to follow the path from suffering to liberation. As Mañjuśrī incarnate, his life demonstrates to us that if we study, even ordinary humans can gain great knowledge and wisdom. And he was not only a scholar with great wisdom, he was also very highly realized, a true mahāsiddha who fully combined great wisdom and great realization.
Sakya Paṇḍita lived during a very tumultuous time. To the south of Tibet, invading armies were destroying the great Buddhist universities and monasteries in India, such as Nalanda and Vikramaśīla, and to the north and east, much of Eurasia was being overtaken by Mongol conquest. Despite the difficult political situation of his time, Sakya Paṇḍita devoted his life to the study, teaching, and preservation of the Dharma. He became a truly great scholar.
In fact, Sakya Paṇḍita was the first Tibetan to be awarded the exalted Indian title of paṇḍita, which was reserved for the greatest scholars who had achieved outstanding mastery in each of the classical disciplines and then-known sciences. Before him, there were no other Tibetan paṇḍitas. In addition to his native Tibetan, Sakya Paṇḍita was fully fluent in both spoken and written Sanskrit, which was the language of the Dharma at the time. It was very difficult to learn and even then was little known among ordinary Tibetans. In fact, he wrote several treatises on various aspects of Sanskrit linguistics and could fluently discuss and debate in that language.
There is a story about Sakya Paṇḍita’s great mastery of Sanskrit that is recounted by his nephew and spiritual heir, Chögyal Phakpa, in this book. When Sakya Paṇḍita was a youth he studied extensively and received full ordination from the great Kashmiri master, Śākyaśrībhadra. Once, as his teacher expounded the teachings in Sanskrit, Sakya Paṇḍita followed along reading from a Tibetan text. Seeing this, other students laughed at him. Śākyaśrībhadra asked Sakya Paṇḍita, “What use is that Tibetan text?” Sakya Paṇḍita said, “It may not be of use to others, but it is of use to me,” and then, looking at the Tibetan text, Sakya Paṇḍita back-translated it perfectly into Sanskrit. Then Śākyaśrībhadra admonished the students, “Why do you laugh at him? He understands the teaching perfectly.” Later, Śākyaśrībhadra was the one who bestowed upon him the title of Paṇḍita.
One of the stories from Sakya Paṇḍita’s life that is personally very inspiring to me also occurred during his youth, when he was still studying with his primary guru and paternal uncle, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen. Sakya Paṇḍita requested him to bestow the profound guru yoga blessing, but Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen refused, saying, “You don’t see me as a buddha, you see me as your uncle.” Sometime after that, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen became ill, and Sakya Paṇḍita served his guru day and night without regard for his own health or comfort. By that merit, any small obscurations Sakya Paṇḍita may have had were purified, and he perceived his guru as Mañjuśrī. At that moment, Sakya Paṇḍita’s inner wisdom opened, and he attained comprehensive and detailed understanding of all knowable things. This event in Sakya Paṇḍita’s life shows that although through study one can gain outer knowledge, it is only through devotion that one can gain inner awakening. The experience of inner awakening brings definitive certainty of all knowable things in a single moment, such that one no longer needs to study.
"His mind fully possessed every type of wisdom."
Another remarkable episode that occurred during his youth is recounted in these biographies. One night, Sakya Paṇḍita dreamed that the Indian paṇḍita Vasubandhu, who was the author of the Treasury of Abhidharma (Abhidharmakośa), gave him teachings for a month. When Sakya Paṇḍita awoke from that dream, he had comprehensive and precise knowledge of the Abhidharma. This is truly extraordinary. Ordinary people don’t dream that a great master gives them extensive teachings on Buddhist philosophy, or even if a few of them might, they barely remember the content of the teachings when they awaken. But in Sakya Paṇḍita’s case, his dream experience was both transformational and effective. He not only remembered the teachings entirely and precisely, but he instantly became a great knowledge holder of the Abhidharma.
At Sakya, there are some holy relics related to Sakya Paṇḍita’s life that have become pilgrimage destinations. One is known as Tamnyen Shuktri, or Good News Throne. This is the throne upon which Sakya Paṇḍita was sitting upon when he was informed that his brother had given birth to a son. That son became his successor, Drogön Chögyal Phakpa. That throne is also the same one upon which Śākyaśrībhadra had long ago sat when he bestowed upon Sakya Paṇḍita the vows of a fully ordained monk. When we go to these holy places and make offerings and aspirations, it deepens our devotion.
As his teacher, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, had earlier prophesied, Sakya Paṇḍita was summoned in his later life to the court of the Mongol khan near what is now Lanzhou, China. At that time, the Mongol khans were very powerful. They had conquered a huge part of the world, and they possessed everything imaginable. Perhaps because of this, they realized the importance of religion and searched everywhere for great religious teachers. They sent messengers to Tibet to learn who were the greatest Tibetan religious masters. The messengers returned saying this lama is very dramatic, this one has a large following, that one is very lenient, and so on—but as far as knowledge of the Buddhadharma is concerned, Sakya Paṇḍita is the greatest. So the khan summoned Sakya Paṇḍita to his court in Mongolia.
After receiving the khan’s summons, Sakya Paṇḍita journeyed slowly from Sakya to the khan’s court near Lanzhou together with a large retinue, which included his young nephew, Chögyal Phakpa. When they met, the khan asked Sakya Paṇḍita to cure him of a skin disease from which he had suffered for a long time. Many doctors had tried, but none could cure the khan. But with his unimpeded wisdom and clairvoyance, Sakya Paṇḍita had a prophetic dream that correctly identified the ailment as a naga disease arising from previous negative karma, and he then performed rituals that completely cured the disease. The khan was impressed and grateful. The dream and the curing of the khan are recounted in fascinating detail in this book.
The khan’s appreciation of Sakya Paṇḍita’s great wisdom and growing interest in Buddhism made Sakya Paṇḍita the object of the jealousy for spiritual teachers of other traditions. This jealousy grew as the khan became Sakya Pandita’s disciple, receiving the Hevajra empowerment from him and bestowing upon him many great offerings. In an attempt to discredit and embarrass Sakya Pandita before the khan, these jealous teachers magically created an illusory shrine in the middle of a lake and then invited the khan and Sakya Paṇḍita to consecrate it. They had planned to dismantle the magical illusion as soon as Sakya Paṇḍita set foot upon it, but everyone was amazed because as Sakya Paṇḍita consecrated the shrine, the magical illusion became a real, habitable shrine. In fact, after that, Sakya Paṇḍita resided there for some years. That was one of his many amazing miracles witnessed by his Dharma heir and nephew, Chögyal Phakpa, and is also recounted in this book.
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Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182–1251) was a renowned Tibetan polymath, scholar, statesman, and religious master, and one of the most famous and consequential figures in the history of Tibet. The three classic biographies included here contain fascinating firsthand accounts of key events in Sakya Paṇḍita’s life, covering his family ancestry, early education, interactions and debates with other sects, travels to Mongolia and his diplomacy at the Mongol court, and a detailed account of the miraculous events that occurred in the last weeks of his life.
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