Sa skya paN+Di ta

Sa skya paN+Di ta on the DRL

Classical Tibetan Authors

ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ་

Wylie	sa skya paN+Di ta
English Phonetics	Sakya Paṇḍita
Sort Name	Sakya Paṇḍita

Line Drawing by Robert Beer Courtesy of The Robert Beer Online Galleries

Other names

• ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་
• ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་

• kun dga' rgyal mtshan
• sa skya paN+Di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan

Alternate names

• Sapaṇ
• Sapen
• Sapan

Dates

Birth:	1182
Death:	1251

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender	Male
Element	Water
Animal	Tiger
Rab Jyung	3

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender	Female
Element	Iron
Animal	Pig
Rab Jyung	4

About

Religious Affiliation

Sakya

Familial Relations

Grandson of Sa chen kun dga' snying po and nephew of rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan and bsod nams rtse mo, and uncle of chos rgyal 'phags pa.

Teachers

Śākyaśrībhadra · rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan

Students

gu ru chos kyi dbang phyug · chos rgyal 'phags pa · yang dgon pa rgyal mtshan dpal · lho pa kun mkhyen rin chen dpal

Other Biographical info:

Links

BDRC Link

https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P1056

Treasury of Lives Link

http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Sakya-Pan%E1%B8%8Dita-Kunga-Gyeltsen/2137

Treasury of Lives Excerpt

Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen, commonly referred to as Sapaṇ, was the fourth of the Five Patriarchs of Sakya and the sixth Sakya throne holder. A member of the illustrious Khon family that established and controlled the Sakya tradition, he was an advocate for strict adherence to Indian Buddhist traditions, standing in opposition to Chinese or Tibetan innovations that he considered corruptions. In this regard he was a major player in what has been termed the Tibetan Renaissance period, when there was a move to reinvigorate Tibetan Buddhism’s connections to its Indian antecedents. He was instrumental in transmitting the Indian system of five major and five minor sciences to Tibet. As an ordained monk, Sapaṇ was instrumental in laying the groundwork for adherence to the Vinaya at Sakya Monastery, built under his successors. He authored more than one hundred texts and was also a prolific translator from Sanskrit. His writings are among the most widely influential in Tibetan literature and prompted commentaries by countless subsequent authors. Sapaṇ’s reputation as a scholar and Buddhist authority helped him forge close ties with powerful Mongols, relations that would eventually lead to the establishment of Sakya Monastery and its position of political power over the Thirteen Myriarchies of central Tibet.

Himalayan Art Resources Link or Other Art Resource

https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=325

Wiki Pages

• Sa skya paN+Di ta on the DRL
• Sa skya paN+Di ta on the LIB
• Sa skya paN+Di ta on the DNZ
• Sa skya paN+Di ta on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Position:	Provisional
Notes:	*Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 309. "As a proponent of the Madhyamaka view of the emptiness of inherent existence privileging the Madhyamakāvatāra, Sapen strongly argues against the tathāgata-essence concept that is central in the Uttaratantra. In his important work, Distinguishing the Three Vows, Sapen shows that the Uttaratantra requires interpretation." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 26. "In verses 138-42 of Distinguishing the Three Vows, Sapen further argues that the tathāgata-essence teaching in the Uttaratantra and other works of the tathāgata-essence literary corpus are provisional, because it meets the three criteria that are characteristics of the Buddha's provisional teachings. The three criteria are the point of reference (dgongs gzhi), purpose (dgos pa), and counter to the fact (dngos la gnod byed)." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 27.
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:	Qualified No
If "Qualified", explain:	There is some discrepancy between Sapen's use of the term tathāgata-essence and buddha-nature and other thinkers that use these terms synonymously. In Sapen's view, sentient beings do not possess the former, but do possess a more general form of the latter. So while the answer is a qualified "no" in terms of the more general debate on this issue and the way others have addressed it and asserted Sapen's position, strictly speaking from Sapen's view the answer could more accurately be a qualified "yes" as he does state all beings have a basic "inherent" buddha-nature, though this does not correspond to an essence that is endowed with enlightened qualities. The tricky issue being the equivalency of these terms tathāgata-essence and buddha-nature and the perception of the Sakya position by later authors.
Notes:	*"In verses 59-63 of Sapen's Distinguishing the Three Vows, he argues against the presentation of the existence of a tathāgata-essence or sugata-essence endowed with enlightened qualities in sentient beings. Sapen demonstrates that such a position would be tantamount to holding the view of the Sāṃkhya School, that the "result is present in its cause." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 27. "It is evident from Distinguishing the Three Vows that the tathāgata-essence endowed with enlightened qualities does not exist in sentient beings. But does that mean that Sapen completely rejects the existence of tathāgata-essence in sentient beings?" Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, pp. 27-28. "In Distinguishing the Three Vows, Sapen argues that tathāgata-essence, sugata-essence, buddha-essence, and buddha-element are synonyms, but, interestingly, he never mentions the associated term "buddha-nature" in this context. However, in his Illuminating the Thoughts of the Buddha (thub pa'i dgongs pa rab tu gsal ba), Sapen explains buddha-nature in this way: "The inherent [buddha-]nature exists in all sentient beings. The developmental [buddha-]nature exists [from the time that] one has developed bodhicitta. [The latter] does not exist in those who have not developed [bodhicitta]....So Sapen obviously has a problem accepting tathāgata-essence teachings as definitive, whereas he has no issue asserting that buddha-nature exists in all beings." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 28.
Which Wheel Turning
Position:
Notes:
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:	Madhyamaka
Notes:
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:	Rangtong
Notes:	He predates the distinction but is clearly in line with the rangtong perspective.
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
Notes:
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:	Analytic Tradition
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:	Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities)
Notes:	"An opinion shared by rNgog and Sapan is that Buddha-nature should be understood in the sense of emptiness. The difference is that rNgog directly equates Buddha-nature with emptiness, whereas Sapan regards the intentional ground (dgongs gzhi) of Buddha-nature to be emptiness." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, pp. 309-310.
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:	Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་)
Notes:
Causal nature of the vajrapāda
Position:

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 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 Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra.

The qualities or attributes of an enlightened being.

Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources.

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).

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.

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.

Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics.