The Phagmo Drupa Kagyu (Tibetan : ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད, Wylie : phag mo gru pa bka' brgyud) or Phagdru Kagyu (ཕག་གྲུ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད) is a subschool of the Tibetan Kagyu school.
It was founded by Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (Tibetan : ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་པོ, Wylie : phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po, 1110–1170) who was the elder brother of the famous Nyingma lama Ka Dampa Deshek (1122–1192) founder of Katok Monastery. Before meeting Gampopa, Dorje Gyalpo studied with Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (sa chen kun dga' snying po) (1092–1158) from whom he received lamdre transmission. [1]
In 1158 Dorje Gyalpo built a reed-hut hermitage at Phakmo Drupa ("Sow's Ferry Crossing") in a juniper forest in Nedong (Tibetan : སྣེ་གདོང, Wylie : sne gdong) high above the Brahmaputra River. Later, as his fame spread and disciples gathered, this site developed into the major monastic seat of Dentsa Thel (Tibetan : གདན་ས་ཐེལ, Wylie : gdan sa thel). Following his death the monastery declined and his disciple Jigten Sumgön sent Chenga Drakpa Jungne (Tibetan : སྤྱན་སྔ་གྲགས་པ་འབྱུང་གནས, Wylie : spyan snga grags pa 'byung-gnas; 1175–1255), a member of the Lang (Wylie : rlang) family, to become abbot and look after the monastery.
Chenga Drakpa Jungne was abbot for 21 years and restored the monastery to its former grandeur. In 1253 when the Sakyapas came to power they appointed Dorje Pel [(Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་དཔལ, Wylie: rdo rje dpal)] the brother of Chenga Drakpa Jungne as Tripon [hereditary myriarch] of Nedon. From that time on the Tripon who as a monk, assumed the seat of government of Nedon and also ruled as abbot at Dentsa Thel and his brothers married in order to perpetuate the family line. This tie with the monastery founded by Phagmo Drupa led to the Tripons of Nedong to become known as Phagdru (short of Phagmo Drupa) Tripon and their period of rule in Tibet as the Phagmo Drupa period (or Phagmodrupa dynasty). [2]
Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen (1302–1364) was born into this Lang family. In 1322, he was appointed by the Sakyapas as the Pagmodru Myriarch of Nedong and given the title "Tai Situ" in the name of the Yuan emperor. Soon he fought with a neighboring myriarchy trying to recover land lost in earlier times. This quarrel displeased the Sakya ruler ( dpon-chen ) Gyelwa Zangpo (Tibetan : རྒྱལ་བ་བཟང་པོ, Wylie : rgyal ba bzang po) who dismissed him as myriach. Following a split between Gyelwa Zangpo and his minister Nangchen Wangtsön (Tibetan : ནང་ཆེན་དབང་བརྩོན, Wylie : nang chen dbang brtson), the former restored Changchup Gyeltsen to his position in 1352. Taking advantage of the situation, Changchup Gyeltsen immediately went on the offensive and soon controlled the whole of the central Tibetan province of Ü. Gyelwa Zangpo and Changchup Gyeltsen were reconciled at a meeting with the Sakya lama Künpangpa (Tibetan : བླ་མ་ཀུན་སྤངས་པ, Wylie : bla ma kun spangs pa). This angered Nangchen Wangtsön, who usurped Gyelwa Zangpo as Sakya ruler and imprisoned him.
In 1351 Changchup Gyeltsen established an important Kagyu monastery at the ancient Tibetan capital of Tsetang. This was later dismantled during the time of the 7th Dalai Lama (18th century) and replaced by a Gelugpa monastery, Gaden Chokhorling. [3]
In 1358, Wangtson assassinated Lama Kunpangpa. Learning of this, Changchup Gyeltsen then took his forces to Sakya, imprisoned Wangtsön, and replaced four hundred court officials and the newly appointed ruling lama. The Pagmodrupa rule of Central Tibet (U, Tsang and Ngari) dates from this coup in 1358. [4]
As ruler, Changchup Gyeltsen was keen to revive the glories of the Tibetan Empire of Songtsän Gampo and assert Tibetan independence from the Yuan dynasty of the Mongols and from Ming China. He took the Tibetan title "Desi" (sde-srid), re-organized the thirteen myriarchies of the Yuan Shakya rulers into numerous districts (Wylie : rdzong), abolished Mongol law in favour of the old Tibetan legal code, and Mongol court dress in favour of traditional Tibetan dress. [5]
Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen died in 1364 and was succeeded as by his nephew Jamyang Shakya Gyaltsen (Tibetan : ཇམ་དབྱངས་ཤ་ཀྱ་རྒྱལ་མཚན, Wylie : jam dbyangs sha kya rgyal mtshan; 1340–1373), who was also a monk. The subsequent rule of the Phagmodrupa dynasty lasted until 1435 followed by the Rinpungpa kings who ruled for four generations from 1435 to 1565 and the three Tsangpa kings from 1566 to 1641.
In 1406 the ruling Phagmodrupa prince, Drakpa Gyaltsen, turned down the imperial invitation to him to visit China.
From 1435 to 1481 the power of the Phagmodrupa declined and they were eclipsed by the Rinpungpa (Wylie : rin spungs pa) of Tsang, who patronized the Karma Kagyu.
The Phagmo Drupa monastery of Dentsa Thel "was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in 1966–1978" [6]
The Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
The Kagyu school, also transliterated as Kagyü, or Kagyud, which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu lineages trace themselves back to the 11th century Indian Mahasiddhas Naropa, Maitripa and the yogini Niguma, via their student Marpa Lotsawa (1012–1097), who brought their teachings to Tibet. Marpa's student Milarepa was also an influential poet and teacher.
Drogön Chogyal Phagpa, 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.
Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo [1110–1170], was one of the three main disciples of Gampopa Sonam Rinchen who established the Dagpo Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism; and a disciple of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo [1092–1158] one of the founders of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the elder brother of Kathog Dampa Deshek [1122–1192], who founded Kathog monastery and the Kathog branch of the Nyingma school.
Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen was the founder of the Phagmodrupa dynasty that replaced the Mongol-backed Sakya dynasty, ending Yuan rule in Tibet. He ruled most of Tibet as desi (regent) from 1354 to 1364. As a law-giver, politician and religious patron, he created a heritage that lasted centuries.
The Phagmodrupa dynasty or Pagmodru was a dynastic regime that held sway over Tibet or parts thereof from 1354 to the early 17th century. It was established by Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen of the Lang family at the end of the Yuan dynasty. The dynasty had a lasting importance on the history of Tibet; it created an autonomous kingdom after Yuan rule, revitalized the national culture, and brought about a new legislation that survived until the 1950s. Nevertheless, the Phagmodrupa had a turbulent history due to internal family feuding and the strong localism among noble lineages and fiefs. Its power receded after 1435 and was reduced to Ü in the 16th century due to the rise of the ministerial family of the Rinpungpa. It was defeated by the rival Tsangpa dynasty in 1613 and 1620, and was formally superseded by the Ganden Phodrang regime founded by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642. In that year, Güshi Khan of the Khoshut formally transferred the old possessions of Sakya, Rinpung and Phagmodrupa to the "Great Fifth".
Rinpungpa was a Tibetan dynastic regime that dominated much of Western Tibet between 1435 and 1565. During one period around 1500 the Rinpungpa lords came close to assembling the Tibetan lands around the Yarlung Tsangpo River under one authority, but their powers receded after 1512.
Drakpa Changchub was a ruler of Central Tibet in 1374–1381. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa dynasty which was the dominating regime in Tibet between 1354 and 1435. Drakpa Changchub was the second son of Rinchen Dorje, a brother of the preceding regent Jamyang Shakya Gyaltsen. His mother was Zina Tashi Kyi. Like the other Phagmodrupa rulers he had a monastic upbringing, and was made abbot of Dansa Thel when fifteen years of age. In 1374 he was appointed regent (desi) of Tibet shortly after the demise of his uncle. For the next seven years he was jointly lama and regent. In 1381 he abdicated his political powers and retired to Dansa Thel in order to teach tantras. Since his reign was quite brief he was never formally acknowledged by the emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was succeeded as regent by his younger half-brother Sonam Drakpa.
Sonam Drakpa was a regent of Central Tibet who ruled in 1381–1385. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa dynasty, the leading regime in Tibet from 1354 to 1435.
Drakpa Jungne was a king of central Tibet who ruled in 1432–1445. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa dynasty which was the leading regime in Tibet from 1354 to 1435, and exerted some influence until the early 17th century. His reign saw the collapse of the political power of the dynasty, and the beginning of two centuries of internal strife.
Kunga Lekpa was a King of central Tibet who ruled from 1448 to 1481. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa dynasty, which was the leading political regime in central Tibet from 1354 to 1435, and retained a certain political status until the early 17th century. His time saw the further fragmentation of Tibetan politics.
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Ngawang Drakpa (Gyaltsen) (Tibetan: ངག་དབང་གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན, Wylie: Ngag dbang grags pa rgyal mts'an, d. 1603 or 1604) was a king in Central Tibet who ruled from 1554 to 1556/57, and again from 1576 to 1603/04. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa dynasty which held power in Tibet or parts of it from 1354 to the early 17th century. Due to the internal family feuds that preceded his reign most of the powers of his predecessor slipped from his hands.
Mipham Sonam Wangchuk Drakpa Namgyal Palzang was a king in Central Tibet. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa dynasty which reigned in Tibet, or parts of it, from 1354 to the early 17th century, and was the last prince of the dynasty.
Norzang (1403–1466), in full Norbu Zangpo, was the founder of the power of the Rinpungpa Dynasty in Central Tibet.
Sönam Gyaltsen, the Sakya Lama Dampa was a ruler of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, which had a precedence position in Tibet under the Yuan dynasty. He is considered the greatest Sakya scholar of the 14th century and served as ruler for a short term in 1344–1347.
Lotro Gyaltsen (1332–1365), in orthographic spelling bLo gros rgyal mts'an, was a ruler of Sakya, which had a position of precedence in Tibet under the Yuan dynasty. He reigned from 1347 to 1365; however, Sakya lost its influence in Central Tibet in 1354. In that way he was the last Sakya lord before the ascension of the new Phagmodrupa dynasty.
Kunga Gyaltsen was a Tibetan Imperial Preceptor (Dishi) at the court of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. He belonged to the abbot family Khon of Sakya which had a precedence position in Tibet in this era. He held the title from 1331 to 1358, being the last Dishi before the takeover of the Phagmodrupa dynasty in Central Tibet in the 1350s.
The Imperial Preceptor, or Dishi, was a high title and powerful post created by Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty. It was established as part of Mongol patronage of Tibetan Buddhism and the Yuan administrative rule of Tibet.