Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism

Timeline

1. 1073–1150Sakya Monastery · Sakya CountyKhön Könchok Gyalpo founded Sakya Monastery in Sakya, Tibet in 1073, inaugurating the Sakya school (the Variegated School), characterized by the Path and Fruit teachings and combined exoteric-esoteric practice, laying the scholarly and contemplative foundation of the Sakya lineage.
2. 1211–1220Sakya · TibetIn the early 13th century, the Sakya school consolidated its scholarly lineage under the fifth patriarch Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1182–1251), systematically organizing Indian Buddhist texts and esoteric rituals, laying a foundation of religious authority for later political contact with the Mongol Empire.
3. c. 1240–1260Liangzhou · GansuIn the 1240s, Sakya Pandita traveled to Liangzhou at the invitation of Mongol prince Köden; in 1247 an agreement was reached for Tibet's submission to the Mongols, and the Sakya school thereby gained Mongol royal patronage, becoming the most politically influential school in 13th-century Tibet.
4. c. 1260–1350Dadu (Beijing) and Sakya · ChinaPhagpa was granted the title Imperial Preceptor and a jade seal by Kublai Khan; through the Imperial Preceptor system, the Sakya school governed Tibet's religious and political affairs for nearly a century, while also spreading Tibetan Buddhism in Beijing, Mount Wutai, and elsewhere, bringing Sakya scholarship to the Han Chinese court.