Architects of the Sakya Tradition

As one of the four Tibetan Buddhist traditions (along with Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug), the Sakya school possesses a distinctive history of blended scholarship, accomplishment, and political clout. The term “Sakya,” which means “pale earth,” refers to the land of southern Tibet, where the first monastery of this tradition was built in 1073 CE; but the roots of the school lie not only in a geographical site, but in the five Masters or Founders of the school, or Sakya Gongma Nga, who constructed the doctrinal and institutional identity and spiritual basis for the school. 

These five masters were not just spiritual teachers, they were also great visionaries. They combined the Indian tantric teachings, a Tibetan scholastic vision, and imperial politics to create a school that not only would preserve some of India's entailments within their profound and multilayered tantric systems, but also propel Tibet into a new authentic age of Buddhist expression. The names of the five masters—Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Sonam Tsemo, Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen, Sakya Pandita, and Drogön Chögyal Phagpa—form the immutable foundations of Tibetan Buddhist history. The study of their lives, gives us a vantage to see the architecture of the Sakya tradition and the larger story of how Vajrayana began to develop its own identity in Tibet.

Core Beliefs of the Sakya School: The Fusion of View, Meditation, and Conduct

The Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism is known for its graceful balance of intellectual precision and meditative depth. It centers on the Lamdré (Tib.. Lam ’bras), meaning “The Path and Its Result”— a complete system of theory and practice that describes the entire journey from ordinary suffering to full enlightenment.

In this school, one of the characteristics is that it offers a non-dual view. Specifically, when fully realized, samsara and nirvana are of one taste. This is not simply a metaphysical declaration, but a realized experience derived from the practice of the Hevajra Tantra—the principal tantric deity of the Sakya school. Therefore, the sect’s methodology does not separate emptiness from appearances; the path opens a possibility for practitioners to realize all phenomena are empty by nature, while simultaneously being clear displays of the the awakened mind.

Also, this takes into account ethics. In particular, the Sakya school has an emphasis on monastic discipline, as well as rigorous scholarship and tantric commitments. In this regard, reasoning and debate are not separate from yogic realization, but necessary skills when training the correct view. Lastly, the Sakya place a tantamount concern for lineage purity, with an unbroken lineage of transmissions—in the form of oral and experiential—being fundamental to authentic realization.

It is for this balance of wisdom and method, of analytical clarity and esoteric profundity, that the Five Founders, and the generations of masters that followed, became notable. The collective genius culminatively created a school that exists as a bedrock of Tibetan Buddhism today.

The Birth of Sakya: From Khön Lineage to Lamdré Transmission

The stages of the Sakya school are inextricably linked to the Khön family whose lineage has mythical ties to beings from the heavens. For centuries they belonged quite firmly to the early Nyingma tradition, but when the great translator Drogmi Lotsawa Shakya Yeshe (992–1072) returned from his studies in India as a disciple of the famed Mahasiddha Virūpa, things changed. Drogmi brought with him esoterica and the highly revered Lamdré teachings: "The Path and its Result." Lamdré is a complete tantric system based upon the Hevajra Tantra.

 In 1073, the Khön disciple of Drogmi Lotsawa, Khön Könchok Gyalpo, established the first Sakya monastery within Tsang, setting the institutional seat of the Sakya tradition. Khön Könchok Gyalpo's spiritual heir, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, was the first of the Five Founders and the start of lineage after lineage of Dzogchen's spiritual brilliance.  The Five Founders not only acted as early leaders of the Sakya tradition, but are also adhered to in the Sakya tradition as the successive manifestations of wisdom beyond their material stature, taking the teachings deeper, and further into the world.

Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092–1158): The Pillar of Transmission

Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, the, first of the three dynastic lineages, is considered the spiritual founder of the Sakya school. He was born in the Khön family, and as such was destined to radiate Dharma. When he was young, he not only received the Lamdré from his father but also teachings from among the most renowned masters of all time, including the direct successors of the lineage of Virūpa.

While he received these teachings formally, his spiritual maturation extended far beyond that. At the age of twelve, he was finally saturated with the essence of his wonderful studies when, during a retreat on Manjushri, he received the famous teaching called "Parting from the Four Attachments":

“If you are attached to this life, you are not a true spiritual practitioner.
If you are attached to samsara, you do not have renunciation.
If you are attached to self-interest, you have no bodhicitta.
If there is grasping, you do not have the View.”

It is these four lines that became fundamental to the ethical content of Sakya practice: renunciation, altruism, and non-duality. Sachen was not just another scholar; he was a mystical yogi who took the path to heart. Not only did he master the Lamdré teachings, he had the wisdom to organize them into one integrated path, and set a precedent for the succeeding Sakya throne-holders. His was a foundational role: protecting the Indian tantric approach, assimilating it to the Tibetan mind, and situating it in disciplined congregational discipline.

Sonam Tsemo (1142–1182): The Scholar with the Mind of a Buddha

The spiritual lineage went easily into the hands of Sachen's son, Sonam Tsemo, who was born in a time of great intellectual vitality in Tibet. Remarkably precocious, Sonam Tsemo was adept in both sutra and tantra by the time he turned sixteen. He had become the head of the Sakya school when he was still quite young and was recognized not only as an excellent schola, but as a practitioner of rare attainment.

He was said to have attained completion of Buddhahood while alive—not a simple thing to assert in the tradition of Tibetan hagiography. Sonam Tsemo was important in developing the philosophical foundations for what would become the Sakya school, especially the combination of Madhyamaka (Middle Way) logic with the ontological concerns of tantra. His writings were recommendable ways to consider the interdependence of appearances and emptiness in some concepts and practices of meditation, as well as for exercise in dialectic.

When Sonam Tsemo was in charge of his school, the Sakya sangha could be considered to be flourishing as a scholarly entity in more than just rituals and transmissions. The sangha was churning out texts, debates, commentaries, and embroiling the types of Tibetan practice with scholarly inquiry. Sonam Tsemo became an example of what a Tibetan spiritual master might be: a meditator, philosopher, and lineage holder blended into one personage.

Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216): The Harmonizer of Sutra and Tantra

Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen, the youngest son of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, followed his brother, Sonam Tsemo, in assuming the Sakya throne. While Sonam Tsemo was recognized for his brilliance in scholarly pursuits, Dragpa Gyaltsen was acknowledged for his ability to unify sutra and tantra in everyday practice. His embodiment of Vajrayana rituals and Tantric practice was always grounded by intellectual clarity derived from the sutras. 

Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen argued that rather than performing tantra simply as a shortcut, view and conduct needed to be integrated so practitioners could understand tantra as a greater depth of the Mahayana vehicle. His teachings pointed to Hevajra, Vajrayogini, and other central figures of the Sakya deities in the considerable pantheon as beings directly embodying enlightened wisdom rather than reminders of ritual forms. 

In addition to advancing the monastery's political position and stability and its administrative consilience of institutional authority, he positioned the institution in Tibet (and the broader Himalayan region) as a respected scholarly seat and spiritual retreat. He also ensured that the lineage would remain unbroken and laid a foundation for a major figure of political consequence in the tradition: Sakya Pandita.

Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182–1251): The Scholar-Diplomat

Sakya Pandita was a sage pure and simple, a statesman pure and simple, and a scholar unequalled. The grandson of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Sakya Pandita, had great command of Sanskrit, Buddhist logic, Buddhist epistemology, and a full command of grammatical forms. His works, for example, "Treasury of Reasoning" (Tshad ma rigs gter) and "Clarifying the Sage's Intent", are considered exemplary masterpieces and are still of utmost importance to school’s pedagogy today.

But Sakya Pandita's legacy was more than meditation hall and monastic library works. He became an important political figure when he received an invitation from Godan Khan, the Mongol ruler of Northern China, to his court. He did not view this as a disruption and intrusive encounter; rather, he saw this encounter as a generational opportunity to protect religious autonomy in Tibet. He was arriving at a Mongol court with substantial notions of Mongol power developing, and in that context, he saw thathe  was dealing with Godan Khan as a diplomat and hegemonic consumerist. 

He succeeded in establishing an enduring relationship and alliances between the Mongol Empire and Sakya school, which would last for generations and he opened the door for his Khön family to function as spiritual and political leaders of Tibet. He was formally recognized as the spiritual teacher of the Mongol court, and the Sakya school went national, becoming the premier institution for Tibetan politics and more so influential in shaping Tibetan politics.

Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280): The Imperial Preceptor

Drogön Chögyal Phagpa is the amalgamation of all the Five Founders. As the nephew of Sakya Pandita, Phagpa was the first Imperial Preceptor (Dishi) of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty. Importantly, being the Imperial Preceptor meant Phagpa was perceived as the highest religious authority in the Mongolian empire, acting as a mediator between Tibetan Buddhism and the Chinese Imperial throne. 

Phagpa was a man of great vision. He developed the Phagpa script, which was Kublai Khan's own unified script that could write many languages across the entirety of the Mongol Empire. It was a massive undertaking and ultimately did not persist - but the fact that it exists is a delineation of the depth of Phagpa's scholarship and the empire's acknowledgment of his intelligence. 

Under Phagpa, the Sakya school was seen as both a spiritual authority and was granted the civil oversight of all administration for Tibet in the name of the Mongol court. This is often referred to as the beginning of the "Sakya period" in Tibetan history. Indeed, this was the time when spiritual and temporal authority were associated with the same lineage. Phagpa maintained the ethical precepts in Buddhism while fulfilling the rights of an empire. His presence cemented the school's authority over the Himalayan platea, and into Central Asia.

A Lineage That Continues to Shine

The legacy of the Five Founders of the Sakya school of Buddhism is not a bygone relic—a tractor for Vajrayana practitioners around the world. What began as a rugged understanding in eleventh- and twelfth-century Tibet has grown into one of the most highly regarded and enduring schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The creative synthesis of the tantric, philosophical, and ethical part of the Chantry that the Five Founders offered was intended to build a lasting framework for future generations. 

Such continuity lives on in the historical and ongoing transmission of the lineage from the Khön family over nine hundred years. The title of Sakya Trizin, or "Throne Holder of Sakya," is passed from father to son not just as part of institutional identity but as a transmission of living Dharma from teacher to disciple. The lineage remains viable today in the persons of His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin, Ratna Vajra Rinpoche, and His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin, Gyana Vajra Rinpoche (brothers), both illustrious and dedicated torchbearers (i.e., transmitters) trained in Lamdré, tantra, and Buddhist philosophy.

Sakya monasteries today are thriving and recognized centers of study and practice throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Their study programs remain tied to the original teachings passed down by the Five Founders, especially the Lamdré system, the Hevajra Tantra, and the essential instructions contained in "Parting from the Four Attachments." These teachings are not just concepts—they are practiced and realized by thousands of monks, nuns, and lay people. 

The Five Founders are living representations for those engaged in the Buddhist path. Sachen Kunga Nyingpo’s devotion, Sonam Tsemo’s clarity, Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen’s integration of learning and meditation, Sakya Pandita’s logical defense of Dharma, and Drogön Chögyal Phagpa offering guidance and compassion—for us, these men encapsulate distinct qualities of awakening. In an age of distraction and doubt, they represent a buoy—pointing toward a path to join active lives where wisdom and compassion may still be actualized today.

Conclusion: The Five Pillars of Sakya

Learning about the Five Founders of the Sakya school means getting to know how the wisdom of Vajrayana developed over generations, and even how it developed in the most sophisticated forms of pragmatism, as a means of developing the good — that is to say, they were more than the holders of lineages — they were founders of Tibetan civilization, protectors of the Dharma, and verbs with regard to worldly and transcendental paths. Each of the Five Founders contributed something masterfully to the Sakya foundation, from the quiet brilliance of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo to the grand imperial statesmanship of Drogön Phagpa. Their lives were not episodic but deliberate engagements that engaged the sacred and elevated the secular.

When practitioners recite the Hevajra sadhana, or sit with “Parting From the Four Attachments” today, they follow the path the Five Founders followed through centuries of undisturbed and contractual reliance upon the frivolous development of the path with mind, body, and spirit. These paths were established with a stake to uproot existence and liberate people! They are not manuals of spirituality; each is an experience cultivated through the indescribable history of trial and error, realization, and faith. The legacy of the Five Founders lives on — not just as thangkas or statues in temples — but is present in every morsel of wisdom, every act of kindness, and in every transmission of lineage from teacher to student. At every moment, whether day-dreaming about practicing or solemnly annotating even the most banal details of their crafts, the Five Founders are there, imbuing the Sakya school with timelessness and life!