SIKKIM’S SAKYA CONNECTION

The last king of the celestial race, which reigned in Minyak for 25 generations, became very powerful. At this time (13th century), this king invited Sakya Panchen, the famous Hierarch of Sakya, to his kingdom. During a ceremonial rite being performed by the Hierarch, the deity, Guru Dragpa (a wrathful aspect of Guru Rinpoche), appeared to the king and gave him a ruby seal with the sign of a scorpion from a hidden store (ter, hidden spiritual treasure). After receiving this gift, the king became even more powerful, conquered large parts of China and also brought minor provinces and states of Kham under his control.

   The successor of the above king was directed by the same deity to go southwards to Sikkim. In a prophetic injunction, the deity directed the descendants of the Minyak Dynasty to go towards south of Tibet to the sacred hidden land called Beyul Demajong (The Hidden Valley of Rice).

   Accordingly, 25 generations after the founding of the Minyak Dynasty in the 9th century by one of the sons of King Trisong Deutsen, Guru Tashi, a scion of the Minyak House, went westwards on a pilgrimage in the first half of the 13th century. He was accompanied by his five sons. During their pilgrimage in Lhasa, the statue of Jowo Rinpoche Sakyamuni (in Jokhang Temple) prophesied that they should proceed south-west to a place called Dema-Jong (Denjong). Accordingly, Guru Tashi and his family travelled to Sakya, located north of Sikkim in Tibet. In an authentic old record, it is said that there were three brothers as chiefs of Kham Minyak and the middle one was prophesied to go towards Sikkim.

   On their way, they visited several important or renowned places of pilgrimage in Tibet and then, came to Sakya to pay their respects to the Hierarch. The Hierarch was engaged in the construction of a huge monastery and was busy trying to build the hall of the monastery. This monastery had seven storeys which were supported by four huge wooden pillars and 160 smaller pillars. The people struggled unsuccessfully to erect the four pillars.

   The Sakya Monastery, located in the city of Sakya in Tibet’s southern province of Tsang, was built in 1073 by Khon Khonchog Gyalpo. The name Sa-kya refers to the region’s grey (kya) earth (sa). From 1074 to 1959 the monastery served as the seat of the Sakya Trizins, the spiritual heads of the Sakya lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Chogyal Phagpa, the fifth of the five founders of the Sakya Order, expanded the monastery in 1268.

   Guru Tashi’s eldest son was well known for his strength. He raised the pillars of the Sakya Trulpai Lhakhang Chenpo, located at the vicinity of the Sakya Monastery, and placed them in their proper places. This Herculean feat earned him the title “Khye-Bumsa,” meaning the one who possesses the strength of one lakh (one hundred thousand) persons. Guru Tashi’s family stayed in Sakya for some time, and Khye-Bumsa married Jomo Guruma, the daughter of the Hierarch.

Sakya Monastery in Tibet

The Sakya Monastery, the principal monastery of the Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism located at Sakya near Shigatse in Central Tibet, has two parts – the northern and southern monasteries. They are located on either side of Dhrum Chu River.

   The northern monastery, built on the hill side in 1073 by Khon Kongchog Gyalpo, the founder of Sakyapa, was destroyed by Chinese Red Army during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The southern monastery, built in 1268 by Chogyal Phagba, the fifth Sakya Trizin, survived the Cultural Revolution as it not only had a series of defence system around the monastery but also because of the changes in the policy of the Central Chinese Government of that period.

   Some of the giant wooden pillars of the southern monastery, the Sakya Trulpai Lhakhang Chenpo, were raised with the help of Khye-Bumsa, an ancestor of Sikkim’s Namgyal Dynasty, in the 13th century. These pillars still stand strong to this day.

   Giant pillars of the Sakya Monastery raised by Sikkim’s ancestor Khye-Bumsa in the 13th century are still seen in the main hall of the monastery.

 

(Ref: SONS OF SIKKIM: The Rise and Fall of the Namgyal Dynasty of Sikkim, Jigme N. Kazi, Hill Media Publications and Notion Press, 2020.)