The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2078 page)

(Sa.skya, ‘Grey Earth’). One of the four principal schools of Tibetan Buddhism, taking its name from the Grey Earth monastery founded by Konchok Gyalpo in 1073 CE. Konchok Gyalpo had been a
Nyingma
follower until meeting the traveller, translator, and
yogin
Drokmi, from whom he learnt the Hevajra cycle of
tantras
and the system known as Lam Drey (lam.'bras, ‘The Way and its Fruit’), which is attributed to the Indian
Siddha
Virupa. Konchok Gyalpo's son Kunga Nyingpo formally systematized the Sakya teachings from the writings of Drokmi, with Lam Drey at the centre relating tantra to
s
tra
and offering enlightenment in a single lifetime. The Sakya school has always hosted a wide variety of views, producing two subsects, the Ngor (15th cent.) and the Tshar (16th cent.). The Ngor and the Tshar appoint their own heads on a merit basis. A
tulku
system is recognized in the Sakya, but it is not always connected with the transmission of major posts.

 
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(P
li),
kyamuni
(Skt., ‘
muni
of the S
kyas’). A title of the
Buddha
denoting that he stemmed from the
kya tribe which inhabited a region of present-day Nepal.

 
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see
’PHAGS-PA
.

 
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