The ''dpon-chen'' or ''pönchen'' (), literally the "great authority" or "great administrator", was the chief administrator or governor of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

located at

Sakya Monastery Sakya Monastery (), also known as Pel Sakya (; "White Earth" or "Pale Earth") is a Buddhist monastery situated in Sa'gya Town (ས་སྐྱ་), Sa'gya County, about 127 km west of Shigatse in the Tibet Autonomous Region. History ...

during the Yuan administrative rule of Tibet in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

the office of the dpon-chen was established in the 1260s and functioned as the Tibetan government serving the Mongol emperors of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

, unlike the Sakya

Imperial Preceptor The Imperial Preceptor, or Dishi (, lit. "Teacher of the Emperor") was a high title and powerful post created by Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty. It was established as part of Mongol patronage of Tibetan Buddhism and the Yuan administra ...

s (''Dishi'') who were active at the Yuan court. The

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

set up a government agency and top-level administrative department known as the

Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs __NOTOC__ The Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, or Xuanzheng Yuan () was a government agency of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China to handle Buddhist affairs across the empire in addition to managing the territory of Tibet. It was original ...

Khanbaliq Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administ ...

(modern

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

) that supervised

Buddhist monks A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist c ...

in addition to managing the territory of Tibet; one of the department's purposes was to select a dpon-chen to govern Tibet when the Sakya Lama (e.g.

Drogön Chögyal Phagpa Drogön Chogyal Phagpa (; ; 1235 – 15 December 1280), was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also the first Imperial Preceptor of the Yuan dynasty, and was concurrently named the director of the Bureau of Buddhist ...

) was away. The Dpon-Chen was invariably a Tibetan nominated by the ruling Sakya Lama and approved by the reigning emperor. His function was, apart from being the chief executive head of the Sakya Government, to appoint a ''tripön'' for each of the 13 myriarchies, and to act as liaison between the Yuan government and Tibet.China's Tibet Policy, by Dawa Norbu, p55-56 Nevertheless, this system also led to conflicts between the Sakya leaders and the dpon-chens. While dpon-chens had a small army in Sakya itself, their major military support came from the Mongols or Yuan dynasty when an internal rebellion or external invasion occurred. As Yuan declined in the mid-14th century however, in Tibet,

Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen (; )Chen Qingying (2003) (1302 – 21 November 1364) was the founder of the Phagmodrupa Dynasty that replaced the Mongol-backed Sakya dynasty, ending Tibet under Yuan rule. He ruled most of Tibet as ''desi'' (regent) from ...

toppled the Sakya and founded the

Phagmodrupa Dynasty The Phagmodrupa dynasty or Pagmodru (, ; ) was a dynastic regime that held sway over Tibet or parts thereof from 1354 to the early 17th century. It was established by Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen of the Lang () family at the end of the Yuan dynast ...

, marking the end of the dpon-chen system.

References

Government of the Yuan dynasty History of Tibet Sakya Titles {{asia-hist-stub

See also

References