Origins & Early Life

Drogön Chogyal Phagpa (Tibetan: འགྲོ་མགོན་ཆོས་རྒྱལ་འཕགས་པ།, Wylie: ʼgro mgon chos rgyal ʼphags pa; Chinese: 八思巴; 26 March 1235 – 15 December 1280) was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also the first Imperial Preceptor of the Yuan dynasty and was concurrently named the director of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, serving during the reign of Kublai Khan. Historical tradition remembers him as the first vice-ruler of Tibet under the Yuan emperor as well as one of the Five Sakya patriarchs (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་གོང་མ་རྣམ་ལྔ་, Wylie: sa skya gong ma rnam lnga). Although this is historically disputed, he played a very important political role.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Phagpa was born in Ngari (West Tibet) in 1235 as the son of Sönam Gyeltsen (Tibetan: བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་, Wylie: bsod nams rgyal mtshan, 1184–1239), a member of the Khön clan of Sakya (Tibetan: འཁོན་, Wylie: 'khon), which held hereditary power over the Sakya Monastery in Tsang, and his mother was Künga Kyi (Tibetan: ཀུན་དགའ་ཀྱིད་, Wylie: kun dga' kyid). The Red Annals name his mother as Jomo Konchog Kyi. He was the nephew of Sakya Pandita (1182–1251), who began the relationship between Sakya and the...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

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