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The Sagya Monastery is
located in the Sagya County, 149 kilometers from Xigaze. It
comprises the Southern and Northern monasteries and got its name
for the Northern, although only the Southern Monastery remains
today. In 1073, Kun Gongjor Gyibo, founder of the Sagya Sect,
built a white palace on the gray clay hill on the northern bank
of the Chun Qu River, and named it Sagya, which means gray clay.
Now, only wall ruins remain, which are called the Ancient City
Monastery or the Northern Sagya Monastery. In 1288, Benqen Sagya
Sangbo built the Southern Sagya Monastery. With renovation and
expansion by his descendants, it has thus evolved to its present
state. The floor space of the monastery occupies 14,700 square
meters, and its surrounding wall is five meters high and nearly
two meters thick. On each of the four corners stands a watch
tower. The main hall occupies 5,700 square meters, and 40 red
pillars support the ceiling. The four in the center are the
thickest, and the thickest of the four is 1.5 meters in
diameter. It is named Gyina Seqen Garna, meaning pillar sent by
the emperor; the second thickest is named Chongbo Garwa, meaning
pillar sent by the wild yak; the third thickest is Dabo Garwa,
meaning pillar sent by the tiger; the fourth thickest is Nabo
Chaza Garwa, meaning bleeding pillar sent by the God of Sea. In
the largest renovation during the Pagba time, a number of
craftsmen were sent for from the inland, thus making the Sagya
 Monastery
a combination of Tibetan, Mongolian and Han architectural styles
with obvious influences from the Tibetan religion. With the
Sagya Monastery being the center, the Kuns steadily developed
the Sagya Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Because the murals in the
interior wall of the monastery had three separate stripes of
red, white and blue, which represent Wisdom Buddha, Bodhisattva
and Buddha's warrior attendants, the Sagya Sect is also called
Stripe Sect.
Five descendants from the Kuns have made great contributions to
the founding of the Sagya Sect, so they were claimed to be the
five founders of the sect: Gonggar Nyingbo, who inherited and
spread the Buddhist Neo-Secret Sect; Soinam Chemo, who advocated
the practice of recruiting disciples for the Neo-Secret Sect;
Zhaba Gyaincain, younger brother of Soinam Chemo, who excelled
in both the Open and Secret sects. The three married and had
children, so later generations called them Three Founders in
White. The other two were called Two founders in Red, who became
lamas, and abided by Buddhist principles and excelled in
Buddhism. They were Gonggar Gyaincain, who was knowledgeable and
respected as a man of wisdom, and Pagba, who was a famous
Buddhist scholar and political activist. During the times of
Gonggar Gyaincain and Pagba, they visited the emperors of the
Yuan Dynasty twice, thus making great, historical progress in
integrating Tibet into the territory of China. In 1260, Pagba
was granted a title of State Master by the Kubla Khan of the
Yuan Dynasty, and later titles of Great King of Dharma and
Teacher of the Emperor. The Yuan Dynasty had conducted a census
in Tibet, established a prefecture that ruled 130,000
households, set up posts, sent troops to Tibet and appointed
head officials of Sagya to represent the Central Government in
tackling political affairs in Tibet, thus establishing the
ruling status of the Sagya Sect in Tibet. The Yuan-dynasty
government also set up the General Council (later changed to
Political Council) to administer national religious affairs and
administrative affairs in Tibet.
The
Sagya Monastry is proclaimed the Second Dunhuang, and boasts
many classical books, relics, and rich and precious mural
paintings. More than 40,000 volumes of books are housed there. A
wood book cabinet, which is 57.2 meters long, 11 meters high,
1.3 meters wide, has 464 book shelves, on which are thousands of
volumes on Buddhism. The most precious is Buddhist scripture
Burde Gyaimalung, which is 1.8 meters long, 1.03 meters wide and
0.67 meters thick. This omus opus describes the religion,
history, philosophy, literature, agriculture and animal
husbandry in Tibet.
The temple also stores 21 volumes of Buddhist scriptures
on pattra (originally over 100 volumes). On each pattra are
Buddhist scriptures written in Sanskrit. Each volume contains
100 to 200 pages, including four-color illustrations. Also in
the monastery are ancient porcelain wares, jade bowls, gold-gilt
Buddha statues, armors, musical instruments used in Buddhist
mass, robes, boots, seals, tangka painting scrolls, satins and
silks and other numerous rare relics presented to the Prince of
Dharma in Sagya by emperors through the dynasties. Murals in the
monastery, superb and representing the epitome of Tibetan
murals, depict Buddhist stories, portraits of Princes of Dharma
of Sagya through the dynasties, Pagba's meeting with Kubla Khan
and the construction scene of the Sagya Monastery. Wrought in a
vigorous, meticulous style, the murals, being rare artifacts,
are fresh and lively with changing compositions.
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