Khön clan of Sakya () is a

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

clan and nobility originally based in

Sa'gya Sa'gya County (; zh, s=萨迦县) is a county under the prefecture-level city of Shigatse in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The county is named after Sakya Monastery, home of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Administration divisions ...

. The clan traces its history to the time of Bod Chen Po. The

Sakya Trizin Sakya Trizin ( "Sakya Throne-Holder") is the traditional title of the head of the Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school), Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.''Holy Biographies of the Great Founders of the Glorious Sakya Order'', translated by Venerable ...

of Sakya school was exclusively chosen from members of this clan. The current head of Khön clan is Gyana Vajra Rinpoche. Since the reign of Tsenpo

Trisong Detsen Trisong Detsen () was the son of Me Agtsom, the 37th king of Tibet. As the 38th king, he ruled from AD 755 until 797. Trisong Detsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet — Songsten Gampo, Trisong Detsen, Rapalchen — honored f ...

, Khön clansmen had actively participated in the political and religious affairs of the Tibetan empire. The founder of Sakya school

Khön Könchok Gyalpo Khön Könchok Gyalpo (, 1034-1102) was the founder of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism, and the founder of Sakya Monastery. Khön Könchok Gyalpo was born in Sa'gya, Tsang. He was a member of the Khön family, and his ancestry can be trace ...

was a prominent member of this clan and the one who settled the clan in Sa'gya. Khöns had ruled the region of Sa'gya for centuries. Clansmen of Khön were appointed imperial preceptors of

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

. Yuan emperors entrusted Tibet's power to this clan. During Yuan's rule, Khön clan was the de facto ruling house of Tibet. The top administrative official of Yuan's Tibet---Benchin(本欽) were either from Khön clan or closely related to it. In addition, the "Imperial preceptor" was the head of 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 origina ...

. Out of political interests, many marriages were arranged between the Khön clan and

Borjigin A Borjigin is a member of the Mongol sub-clan that started with Bodonchar Munkhag of the Kiyat clan. Yesugei's descendants were thus said to be Kiyat-Borjigin. The senior Borjigids provided ruling princes for Mongolia and Inner Mongolia u ...

. Three members of Khön clan were given the title "Prince Bailan"(白蘭王).

Prominent members

Drogön Chögyal Phagpa Drogön Chogyal Phagpa (), who lived from (26 March 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 o ...

Rinchen Gyaltsen Rinchen Gyaltsen () who lived from (1238 – 24 March 1279) was a Tibetan imperial preceptor at the court of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. His reign lasted from 1274 to his demise in either 1279 or 1282. Family background Rinchen Gy ...

Dharmapala Raksita Dharmapala Raksita (), who lived from (1268 – December 1287) was the head of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, which was the most powerful school in Tibet under the Yuan dynasty from 1280 to 1282. He also held the title of Imperial Preceptor ...

Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen () was a Tibetan Imperial Preceptor (''Dishi'') at the court of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He lived from (1299-1327) and belonged to the abbot family Khon of Sakya which had a precedence position in Tibet in this er ...

* Lachen Sönam Lodrö *

Sakya Trizin Ngawang Kunga Sakya Trizin Ngawang Kunga served as the 41st Sakya Trizin, the throne holder of the Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, from his appointment in 1952 until his retirement in 2017. His religious name is Ngawang Kunga Tegchen Palbar Trinley Samphe ...

References

{{Sakya Trizin Tibetan society Sakya lamas Yuan dynasty government officials