Sakya Trizin

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Tibetan Buddhism
Name
His Holiness Ngawang Kunga,
the 41st Sakya Trizin
Birth September 7, 1945
Shigatse, Tibet
School/tradition Sakya

The Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism refers to its head as the Sakya Trizin.

The spiritual leadership of the Sakya school is controlled by the descendants of the Köhn family, who around 750,[1] when Khön Jekundag was a minister of Trisong Detsen, got into contact with Buddhism and who were taught by Padmasambhava.[2] The family were viceroys of the Tsang province of Tibet at the time. After they received the teaching of masters like Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, they starting spreading the teaching throughout their territories from 1073 onwards.[2] After the Dalai Lamas asserted their rule over Central Tibet, they started to focus on Buddhism only. The leadership passes from father to oldest son contrary to the other schools.

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[edit] Current Sakya Trizin

The current Sakya Trizin is the 41st Sakya Trizin. Because the leadership passes from father to son,[3] the couple wanted a son, however their first son died as a child and thus their wish remained unfulfilled for most of their lives. The family made a pilgrimage to Kailash, Nepal, and Lhasa and asked Ngaglo Rinpoche, a great master, to perform rituals for them to ensure that the lineage would not disappear.[4] Their wish finally came true.

On September 7, 1945 a son was born in a little village near Shigatse, Tibet and was called Ayu Vajra. After his first initiation he received his full name: Ngawang Kunga Tegchen Palbar Samphel Wanggi Gyalpo which is generally shortened to Ngawang Kunga.[5] He has an older sister, Jetsun Kushok Chimey Luding, who lives in Vancouver, Canada and travels round the world giving Buddhist teachings and is regarded as a master.[6]

His mother died when he was only three and his father died two years later and therefore he was raised by his aunt Trinley Paljor Zangmo.[5] When Ngawang Kunga was five years old, he was send to the monastery and in 1951, during a pilgrimage to Lhasa, he was crowned Sakya Trizin by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama. After continuing his studies in Lhasa, he was formally appointed spiritual leader of the school in 1959, at the age of fourteen, because of the political condition in Tibet. Soon after Ngawang Kunga had to escape to India.

In 1960 Ngawang Kunga moved to Darjeeling were he continued his education and in 1964 he founded new headquarters in Rajpur, India for the Sakya school. In 1974 he married Dagmo Kusho Tashi Lhakee and in the same year his first son, Ratna Vajra, was born. A new main monastery of the Sakya, Thubten Namgyal Ling, was opened in 1980 in Puruwala, Himachal Pradesh.

[edit] Sakya Trizin lineage

Lharig, the divine generation

According to legend Ciring descended from the Rupadhatu (Realm of Clear Light) to earth.[7]
  • Ciring
  • Yuse
  • Yuring
  • Masang Cije
  • Togsa Pawo Tag
  • Tagpo Ochen
  • Yapang Kye

Khön family, the royal generation

Because the previous generations subjugated the rakshas (demons), the family became the Family of Conquerors (Khon gyi dung shortened to Khön)[5] and therefore a royal family.
  • Khön Bar Kye
  • Khön Jekundag, minister of Trisong Detsen, student of Padmasambhava
  • Khön Lu'i Wangpo Srungwa
  • Khön Dorje Rinchen
  • Khön Sherab Yontan
  • Khön Yontan Jungne
  • Khön Tsugtor Sherab
  • Khön Gekyab
  • Khön Getong
  • Khön Balpo
  • Khön Shakya Lodro
  • Sherab Tsultrim

Sakya lineage, generations as Buddhist teachers.

Khön Konchog Gyalpo founded the monastery in Sakya in 1073, and therefore the lineage was renamed Sakya.[7]
  1. Khön Konchog Gyalpo
  2. Rinchen Drag
  3. Kunga Nyingpo
  4. Sonam Tsemo
  5. Trakpa Gyaltsen
  6. Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen
  7. Lodro Gyaltsen
  8. Rinchen Gyaltsen
  9. Dharmapala Rakshita
  10. Sharpa Jamyang Chenpo
  11. Zangpo Pal
  12. Namkha Legpa
  13. Jamyang Donyo Gyaltsen
  14. Sonam Gyaltsen
  15. Tawen Lodro Gyaltsen
  16. Kunga Rinchen
  17. Kushri Lodro Gyaltsen
  18. Jamyang Namkha Gyaltsen
  19. Kunga Wangchug
  20. Sherab Gyaltsen
  21. Lodro Gyaltsen
  22. Kunga Sonam
  23. Ngakchang Kunga Rinchen
  24. Sonam Wangpo
  25. Dhagpa Lodro
  26. Kunga Wangyal
  27. Ngawang Kunga Sonam
  28. Sonam Wangchug
  29. Kunga Tashi
  30. Sonam Rinchen
  31. Sachen Kunga Lodro
  32. Wangdu Nyingpo
  33. Pema Dudul Wangchug
  34. Dorje Rinchen
  35. Tashi Rinchen
  36. Kunga Sonam
  37. Kunga Nyingpo
  38. Dzamling Chegu Wangchug
  39. Dragshul Thinley Rinchen
  40. Ngawang Thutob Wangchug
  41. Ngawang Kunga (the current Sakya Trizin)
  42. Ratna Vajra (the next generation)

The next in line to HH Sakya Trizin will not be his son Vajra Ratna Rimpoche because the lineage alternates between the two royal families of Khon.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Sakya Resource Guide History sheet.(Retrieved: September 16, 2006)
  2. ^ a b Sakya Resource Guide Fact sheet.(Retrieved: September 16, 2006)
  3. ^ This is inaccurate according to most texts and gives the impression that the current Sakya Trizin was the son of the 40th Trizin; he is actually his nephew. The reason given for choosing him at the time of his enthronement was that "the throne passes from Trizin to nephew."
  4. ^ Official site of Sakyapa Biography Sakya Trizin. (Retrieved: September 16, 2006)
  5. ^ a b c Sakya Tsechen Thubten Ling Biography Sakya Trizin. (Retrieved: September 16, 2006)
  6. ^ Shambhala Sun, Precious Jewels, November 2001, page 66 link
  7. ^ a b Official site of Sakyapa Biography Sakya Lineage. (Retrieved: September 16, 2006)

[edit] References

  • Penny-Dimri, Sandra. (1995). "The Lineage of His Holiness Sakya Trizin Ngawang Kunga." The Tibet Journal. Vol. XX, No. 4 Winter 1995, pp. 64-92. ISBN 0970-5368.

[edit] External links

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