The Treasury of Lives

Jetsun Drakpa Gyeltsen (rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan) was born in 1147. His father was Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (sa chen kun dga' snying po, 1092-1158) and his elder brother was Sonam Tsemo (bsod nams rtse mo, 1142-1182) were the first and second Sakya patriarchs. His mother was called Machik Wodron (ma gcig 'od sgron). Like his father and elder brother, Drakpa Gyeltsen was not a monk.

He received lay vows from his teacher Dawa Gyeltsen (zla ba rgyal mtshan, 12th century) when he was eight years old and was known for his close observance of the vows. Biographical accounts indicate that he wished to receive full ordination but never did. Throughout his life most of his close disciples were monks and he encouraged strict observance of their monastic vows. As an indication of his reverence for the monastic robes, he is recorded to have personally served all the Sakya monks tea during the bimonthly ceremony to purify monastic vows. He also abstained from meat and alcohol except during special ritual occasions.

Drakpa Gyeltsen's first teacher was his father Sachen who gave him intensive instruction from the ages of eight to twelve. His brother Sonam Tsemo was also an important early teacher. When Drakpa Gyeltsen was ten he received instructions from Sachen on Chandragomin's Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Vows, the Hevajra sadhana, the Samvara Vimsatika and the Sararodhbuta sadhana. He began teaching these at the age of eleven. At twelve, after Sachen passed away, Drakpa Gyeltsen famously taught the Hevajra root tantra to the entire assembly at Sakya Monastery. When he was just thirteen, his elder brother Sonam Tsemo left Sakya to pursue his philosophical education at a monastery in U. Drakpa Gyeltsen was left to take on the responsibilities as effective head of the monastery although he did not formally assume the throne until he was twenty-six.

Following the death of this father, his main teachers included Sonam Tsemo, Dawa Gyeltsen, both mentioned above, as well as Tsugtor Gyelpo (gtsug tor rgyal po, 12th century), Tsultrim Drak (tshul khrims grags, 11th-12th century), Wangyel (dbang rgyal, 12th century), the Nepali teacher Jayasena (Tib. dza ya se na, 12th century), Sumpa Lotsāwa Darma Yonten (sum pa lo tsA ba dar ma yon tan, b. 12th century), and Pelchok Dangpo Dorje (dpal mchog dang po'i rdo rje, b. 12th cenury). His teachers did not allow him to teach the Lamdre (lam 'bras) for several years, in order for him to have more time to receive instruction himself, but he continued to give other teachings from a very young age.

During the period of intensive instruction he went through as a youth, the teachings Drakpa Gyeltsen received included commentaries on the Hevajra root tantra and the entire Cakrasaṃvara root tantra, several explanations of the Guhyasamāja tantra and many others. His education also included instruction in the history of Buddhism and the sutras. Beyond the instructions he received, he is recorded to have read everything he could find related to the Tripitika. His biographical data suggest that he incorporated practice in his daily routine so thoroughly that he could perform the maṇḍalas of up to seventy deities in the course of a normal day. He is described as having had the appearance of practicing constantly, and was famous for his clear teaching style. He had many prominent disciples, Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen (kun dga' rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251) foremost among them.

He and his elder brother were among the first disciples to receive Lamdre teachings from their father in 1141. This was immediately after an eighteen-year gap between when Sachen received the teachings himself and when he began transmitting them to students. Drakpa Gyeltsen was instrumental in the preservation of the Lamdre, through recording his father's oral teachings, annotating previously written Lamdre teachings and writing commentaries, as well as through his own numerous treatises.

Drakpa Gyeltsen's written works also include spiritual songs and instructions to disciples as well as at least one medical text and one astrological treatise. He composed texts on the four classes of tantra and wrote an important consecration manual which strongly influenced authors of later manuals in various Buddhist traditions.

Drakpa Gyeltsen wrote biographies of his father and elder brother, as well as a history of the early rulers of Tibet and the Khon clan, histories of Lamdre in India and in Tibet and a commentary on the Bodhicharyavatara. He compiled a collection of Sakya writings called the Po ser (pod ser) which included teachings he had received from his father and brother. Until that time most of the teachings had been transmitted only orally. He included annotations to explain his father's writing as well as the related work of Sachen's student Pakmodrupa (phag mo gru pa, 1110-1170), who studied at Sakya before Drakpa Gyeltsen's birth and wrote about the Lamdre based on the oral teachings he received from Sachen. In addition to his written work, Drakpa Gyeltsen was an important source of oral histories about his family and the Lamdre lineage, which were later recorded by his disciples. He is also well known for his masterful drawings.

During his years as throne holder, Drakpa Gyeltsen sponsored the making of a statue of his grandfather Khon Konchok Gyelpo (khon dkon mchog rgyal po) who founded of Sakya monastery, and a stupa to hold his grandfather's relics. He also sponsored a stupa for his father Sachen and golden statues of both his elder brother Sonam Tsemo and his younger brother, Pelchen Opo (dpal chen 'od po, 1150-1203) who was Sakya Paṇḍita's father. He was also responsible for the construction of a temple at Sakya and a collection of scripture written in golden ink.

Drakpa Gyeltsen's biography recounts many significant dreams that he had about his previous lives and his future reincarnation.

There are also several famous accounts of miraculous adventures involving drakpa Gyeltsen and the Kashmiri teacher Śākyaśrībhadra (shAkya shrI b+ha dra, 1127-1225), which describe Drakpa Gyeltsen's ability to suspend his ritual instruments in midair. He is also recorded to have correctly predicted that his nephew Sakya Paṇḍita would play an important role in Tibetan-Mongolian relations.

Drakpa Gyeltsen was the official Sakya throne holder for forty-three years and effectively headed the monastery for fifty-seven years, from age thirteen till his death at nearly seventy. Despite the great wealth that passed through his hands as the Sakya throne holder, his biographers claim that he did not accumulate material wealth and when he passed away he possessed only his robe and meditation cushion.