Sakya Monastery - The Origin of Sakyapa Sect

Sakya Monastery is the principal monastery of the Sakyapa Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, located in Sakya County, about 160 kilometers southwest of Shigatse, on the road to Tingri in Tibet. Built in 1073 by Khon Khonchong Gyalpo, on the hill side with gray earth surrounded, it means the “Grey Soil” in Tibetan. Divided by river, this monastery is consists of the northern part (in the hillside) and the southern part (lies in the valley). Different from other monasteries in Lhasa, its wall painted in red, white and grey strips, which represent Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani, as a special architecture to distinguish from other Buddhist schools, which is easily to find out from a distance. As the first temple of Sakyapa with over 900 years history, it kept many historical relics, including numerous stupas, Buddhist scriptures, magnificent surviving artwork, Tibetan Thangkas and more. Here, you can not only discover the history of the religion, but also explore a combination of cultures.

Constructed in 1288, the southern monastery was built by Drogon Chogyal Pagba, 5th Sakya Throne Holder and had several further reconstructions before the 9th Sakya Throne Holder. With 214 meters wide and 210 meters long, it covers about 45,000 square meters and combined with the architecture of Han, Indian and Tibetan styles. The whole layout is a square and defense by firm walls and watchtowers built in the center. Surrounded by rivers, this monastery had a series of defense system.

For the history of over 900 years, Sakya Monastery not only recorded the history of the combination of religion and politics in Tibet but also deemed as the sign that Tibet was brought into Chinese domain officially.

When talking about Sakya Monastery, the Sakya sect should be mentioned. As one of the Tibetan Buddhism schools, Sakya sect once played an important role during the Yuan dynasty and ruled Tibet for more than 70 years. Below is some brief information about this sect.

● Founder of Sakyapa Sect: Kun Gongjor Gyibo (1034 -1102);

● Clothes: the Sakyapa monks wear red, lotus hat and dress in a red robes;

● Tradition: The Sakyapa sect allows marriage and its religious power is descended from paternal uncle to nephew while its political authority from father to son.

Large Collection of Sutras

A huge library of as many as 84,000 scrolls were found sealed up in a wall 60 metres long and 10 metres high at Sakya Monastery in 2003. It is expected that most of them will prove to be Buddhist scriptures although they may well also include works of literature, and on history, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and art. They are thought to have remained untouched for hundreds of years.

Tibetan Traditional Art (Thankas & Murals)

The monastery has a colossal collection of highly valuable art pieces, including abundance handwriting sutra that is said that copied by all the Tibetan calligraphists organized by Basiba. Sakya's collection of treasures also contains 3,000 pieces of sutras that have thousands of year history. The mural in Sakya Monastery is quite different from Dunhuang that has already become relic. Here the mural is still passed on from generation to generation.

Religious Ceremonies

If you want to experience Diamond Buddhism Rituals, you can come in summer and winter when there will be large-scale and characteristic Diamond Buddhism Rituals. When performing the Holy Dance, the dancers all wear masks of Sakya Monastery Guard God and other different holy beasts. The holy dance vividly reflects the basic content of Tibetan Mizong holy dance killing devils. During these two rituals, thousands of lamas and crowd will come and worship, praying the holy dance and bring happiness and fortune to human beings. And this is the golden season for travel in this monastery.

● Ticket & Opening Hours: 50 rmb per person is charged to enter inside and the opening hour is from 09:00-12:00 and 14:00-18:30.

● Clockwise Visit: After entering the temple, you must walk clockwise from left to right.

● Get to Sakya Monastery from Shigatse: There are buses running through Shigatse downtown to Sakya Monastery about 5 hours. Or you can rant private car to visit to save much time. If you join in our Tibet tours, a free transfer will offered for you to visit this monastery and more attractions with your request.

● Panorama View & Photography: On the way to reach Sakay Monastery, with a short distance, where is a great location to have a panorama view of the layout with well-bedded monk houses and local Tibetan buildings. If you want to photograph the spectacular scenery of river encircled monastery, the opposite mountain is a perfect shooting point.

● Meditation: Comparing with other Tibetan temples, the tranquility with clean atmosphere is more suitable for meditation and worth to try.