Sakya Tradition

Kunsang Dolma interviews Lama Pema Wangdak, a resident Buddhist teacher in New York and New Jersey area, on the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Pema says the Sakya tradition is one of the four major religious traditions in Tibet. It played a significant role in the development and spread of new tantric teachings that came to Tibet in the 11th century. He says that during the 13th and 14th centuries the heads of the Sakya tradition were also the principal political rulers of Tibet and that Sakya tradition produced many great and distinguished practitioners, saints and scholars, such as - the founder of Sakya tradition Kon Konchok Gyalpo, Lopon Sonam Tsemo, Jetsun Dakpa Gyaltsen, Sakya Pandita, and Drogon Chogyal Phakpa.