Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen

Timeline

1. 1182–1216Sakya · TibetBorn into the Khön clan of Sakya in Tsang, he studied exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, grammar and logic at Sakya Monastery from childhood, mastered Sanskrit, and gradually earned the reputation of 'Pandita', laying the scholarly foundation for his later role as Sakya dharma lord and his eastern journey of negotiation.
2. c. 1216–1244Sakya · TibetHe presided over teachings and writing at Sakya, composed logical treatises such as the Treasury of Logic, and instructed his nephews Phagpa and Chana Dorje, becoming one of the most influential Buddhist scholars in Tsang in the first half of the 13th century.
3. 1244–1247Liangzhou · GansuIn 1244 he left Sakya with the young Phagpa and Chana Dorje, teaching along the way, and reached Liangzhou in 1246. Because Godan went to Karakorum for Güyük's enthronement assembly, their formal meeting was postponed to 1247.
4. 1247–1251Liangzhou · GansuAfter reaching a patron-priest arrangement with Godan, he remained in Liangzhou teaching the Dharma and wrote to Tibetan religious and secular leaders explaining the terms of submitting to the Mongols. On his deathbed in 1251 he bestowed the conch and alms bowl on Phagpa, designating him his religious successor, and died at Liangzhou that same year.