'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa

'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa on the DRL

Classical Tibetan Authors

འགྲོ་མགོན་ཆོས་རྒྱལ་འཕགས་པ་

Wylie	'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa

Other names

• འཕགས་པ་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་

• 'phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan
• chos rgyal 'phags pa
• 'gro mgon 'phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan
• blo gros rgyal mtshan

Alternate names

• Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen
• Chögyal Phagpa
• Chögyal Phakpa
• Chogyal Phagpa
• Drogön Chögyal Phagpa
• Drogon Chogyal Phagpa
• Drogön Phagpa Lodrö Gyaltsen
• Drogon Phagpa Lodro Gyaltsen

Dates

Birth:	1235
Death:	1280
Place of birth:	Ngari

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Religious Affiliation

Sakya

Familial Relations

Sonam Gyeltsen (Father); Kunga Kyi (Mother); Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen (Uncle)

Other Biographical info:

Links

BDRC Link

https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P1048

Treasury of Lives Link

https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Pakpa-Lodro-Gyeltsen/2051

Treasury of Lives Excerpt

Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen ('phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan) was born in 1235 in Ngari (mnga' ris) into the illustrious Khon ('khon) family that had recently established themselves at Sakya in Tsang. His father was Sonam Gyeltsen (bsod nams rgyal mtshan, 1184-1239), the younger brother of the great scholar Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen (sa skya pan di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251), who is commonly referred to as Sapan. His mother was Kunga Kyi (Kun dga' kyid).

In 1244 Pakpa and his younger brother Chana Dorje (phyag na rdo rje, 1239-1267) traveled to the Mongol court of Godan Khan, the son of the Mongol leader Ogodei, with their uncle Sakya Paṇḍita. As Goden was in Yunnan at the time, they did not meet until 1247. Tibetan historians have it that Sapan went to Mongolia to serve as religious preceptor, but it is more likely that he was summoned to serve as proxy for a Tibetan acceptance of Mongolian rule. Some scholars have speculated that Pakpa and his brother, the heirs to the Khon family, accompanied their uncle as hostages. However, it is more likely that they went along simply as disciples and attendants to their teacher and uncle.

Like his uncle Pakpa was fully ordained, having received his vows from Sapan the year they left for Mongolia. He was given his initial instruction in the Vinaya from Sherab Sengge (she rab seng gye).

Pakpa remained in Mongolia after the death of his uncle in 1251. Godan's influence was on the wane, having lost succession first to his brother Guyug and again in 1251 to his cousin Mongke. In 1253 Mongke's brother, Khubilai invited Pakpa to his newly built city of Kaiping (latter known as Shangdu), presumably in part because he believed the Tibetan Buddhist lama could help justify the Mongol's rule of China. In fact the invitation had been for Sapan, but Pakpa went in his place. In 1254, on his way to meet the Khan, Pakpa went on a teaching tour in Kham where he visited various monasteries, converting several, including Dzongsar (dzong gsar) and Jyegu Dondrub Ling (skye dgu don grub gling) from Bon to the Sakya tradition.

Once Pakpa was settled at Khubilai's court, he gained a significant degree of influence and authority. Beginning in 1258 Pakpa performed Buddhist initiations and empowerments for the Khan and, in that same year, participated in a debate with leading Daoists. According to Tibetan historians Khubilai judged him to be the winner, a victory moved the Khan to burn Daoist texts and force prominent Daoists to convert to Buddhism.

Himalayan Art Resources Link or Other Art Resource

https://www.himalayanart.org/items/162

Wiki Pages

• 'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa on the DRL
• 'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa on the LIB
• 'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

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All beings have Buddha-nature
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Other Biographical Information

TBRC RID: P1048

Biography from hhthesakyatrizin.org

The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre.

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.