Imperial Preceptor
'Teacher of the Emperor'; Tibetan: གོང་མའི་སློབ་དཔོན, Wylie: gong mavi slob dpon), was a high title and powerful post in the Yuan dynasty.
A member of the Sakya sect, acting as Imperial Preceptor and residing in China, supervised the Buddhist clergy throughout the empire.
He formed a close relationship with the Buddhist prelates and Tibetan priests, which led to the creation of the Xia/Hsia Institution of the Imperial Preceptorship.
[citation needed] Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongol Borjigin clan, established the Yuan dynasty eight years before he took over all of China.
He improved the Silk Road, created better infrastructure, circulated paper banknotes, and spread Mongol peace, leading to a prosperous and flourishing period.
In twelfth-century Asia, Western Xia Buddhism was vigorously promoted and there were religious scriptures translated to Chinese and Tangut in order to spread the religion.
By the mid-twelfth century onward shows a special relationship between the Western Xia throne and the Sangha that is distinct from the Song dynasty courts.
During the Yuan dynasty, the Imperial Preceptor's position was continued in response to overseeing the political situation in Central Tibet.
They held rituals and dedicated stupas to the protection of the state and its subjects, in general terms or in specific instances, such as to prevent flooding or thunderstorms.
Phagpa was the first Imperial Preceptor of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty, division of the Mongol Empire, and was simultaneously named the director of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs.
The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan ordered Phagpa to create a new writing system, for which he received a title of Imperial Preceptor (Dishi) in 1270.
Although his brother Phagpa was given the title of the Imperial Preceptor, he gave up the post in 1274 (to return to Sakya) and it was passed on to Rinchen Gyaltsen.
His death occurred in Shingkun (Lintao) and his post was passed on to his nephew and a son of Chakna Dorje (Dharmapala Raksita – the third preceptor of the Yuan dynasty).
After stepping down from his position as Dishi, Yeshe Rinchen retired to the sacred Buddhist site Mount Wutai in present-day Shanxi.
However, due to the lack of fully ordained members of the lineage after the death of the third preceptor (Dharmapala Raksita), persons from other clerical elite families of Sakya origins were appointed.
After the young Sakya Dishi Dharmapala Raksita vacated his position in 1286 and died in 1287, Khagan Kublai Khan suspended the influence of the Khön family.
Jamyang Rinchen Gyaltsen nominally handed over the abbot-ship, but continued to direct Sakya affairs from the official abbot's palace Zhitog.
As a result, some scholars tend to believe that even if Wangchug Gyeltshen had been appointed as the Preceptor, he was merely a temporary substitute for Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen when he was away in Tibet and not around the Yuan capital.
About two months after his brother's death in 1327, Kunga Lekpa Jungne Gyaltsen got appointed by emperor Yesün Temür as the new Imperial Preceptor.
A common practice among his family was to get married and have kids before fully turning into a monk; Kunga Lekpa Jungne Gyaltsen showed no difference.
He had five children and one of them, Sonam Lotro, eventually became the thirteenth Imperial Preceptor, while another, Drakpa Gyaltsen, also became a very powerful government official in Tibet.
According to a very limited Wikipedia page in the Chinese Language, Rinchen Trashi was appointed by Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, the 12th Khagan of the Mongol empire, as the Imperial Preceptor in 1329.
Like many other previous Imperial Preceptors, Kunga Gyaltsen belonged to the Khon family, a group of monastery leaders with fairly high political authority in certain regions of Tibet.
However, his stay in Dadu during the Tibertan civil war period meant that he could not really do anything significant to help, despite having so much authority as the Imperial Preceptor.
Eventually, when the Phagmodrus took over, the leader of this dynasty severely weakened the authorities of the Sakyas (the group which Kunga Gyaltsen and many other previous Imperial Preceptors belonged in).
According to records of Tibetan history published in 2005 by the official Chinese government, this Imperial Preceptor came from one of the six ancient aristocratic families in Tibet.
His father is the 10th Imperial Preceptor of the Yuan dynasty, Kunga Lekpa Jungne Gyaltsen, while his mother also came from an aristocratic family of the Ü-Tsang region, one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet.
This followed decades of struggle for the Yuan dynasty, including natural disasters, like flooding and droughts, and the Red Turban Rebellion (1351).
Emperor Huizong eventually fled North to the city of Shangdu, leaving the capital open to be captured by the Ming armies.
Because of this, Shekpa was granted a lengthy title often shortened to Rúlái dàbǎo fǎwáng (如來大寶法王), meaning "Tathāgata Great Precious Dharma King".
