Sakya Pandita[1] Kunga Gyeltsen (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་པཎ་ཌི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན, Wylie: Sa skya Paṇḍita Kun dga’ rgyal mtshan [1]) (1182 – 28 November 1251) was a Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar and the fourth of the Five Sakya Forefathers (Wylie: sa skya gong ma lnga).[2] Künga Gyeltsen is generally known simply as Sakya Pandita (or Sapan for short), a title given to him in recognition of his scholarly achievements and knowledge of Sanskrit. He is held in the tradition to have been an emanation of Manjusri, the embodiment of the wisdom of all the Buddhas.[3]
Sakya Pandita was also known as a great scholar in Tibet, India, Mongolia and China and was proficient in the five great sciences of Buddhist philosophy, medicine, grammar, dialectics and sacred Sanskrit literature as well as the minor sciences of rhetoric, synonymies, poetry, music, dancing and astrology. He is considered to be the fourth Sakya Forefather and sixth Sakya Trizin and one of the most important figures in the Sakya lineage.
- ^ a b Powers, John (2017). The Buddha party : how the people's Republic of China works to define and control Tibetan Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. Appendix B, p. 15. ISBN 9780199358151. OCLC 947145370.
- ^ blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma (2009), p. 522.
- ^ Pal (1997), p. 49.