Drikung Til

Who holds it

Name

Kyobpa Jigten Sumgon (Skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po)

Title

Founder-abbot of Drikung Til and head of the Drikung Kagyu

Since

1179

Born

1143, in Kham, of the Kyura (Skyu ra) clan

Family

Kyura (Skyu ra)

Confidence

high

En Wikipedia (Jigten Sumgön, Drikung Kagyu): born 1143, founded Drikung Thil in 1179, held the lineage 1179-1217, successor Kenchen Gurawa Tsultrim Dorje 1217-1221, then On Rinpoche Sonam Drakpa 1221-1234.

Overlord

none: no one rules Tibet in 1200; the house answers to its own patrons and to the custom of the valleys

What it holds

• Drikung Til and the hermitages round it
• The Drikung valley as patron land of the Kyura family (the extent is not known)
• Disciples and branch houses; Nyo Lhanangpa's Lhapa in Bhutan (since 1194, tradition)

How it was acquired

1179, founded by Jigten Sumgon; the site and its patrons are not named by any source we opened.

Allies and rivals

Teacher: Phagmo Drupa (d. 1170). Brother house Taklung (Tashi Pel, 1142-1210). A quarrel with Taklung over gifts sent to Densa Thil is reported by Chinese Wikipedia (Taklung) with no date. Pupil: Nyo Lhanangpa in Bhutan. A second pupil, Tishri Repa (1164-1236), is said to be at the Tangut court as preceptor from 1196: that comes from the Kham sheet, which had it from Treasury of Lives through the Tarim sheet, and we could not read the source myself (medium).

Neighbours in the Kyichu valley: the Tsel Gungthang house and the lords of Gyama (not named).

How things stand that morning

At its height in teaching and following, and a rival claimant with Taklung and the Lang family to the Phagmodru inheritance. No fighting is attested for the winter of 1199-1200.

Wealth

Patrons' estates in the Drikung valley, offerings at the great teachings (a late page speaks of crowds of 100,000 or more, undated, a pious figure not used here), and the revenues of its branch houses.

Military

No standing army; the house or lord calls on retainers, tenants and kin. No troop numbers are given by any source we could open.

Threats

• Quarrel with Taklung and the Lang clan over the Densa Thil inheritance (low confidence).

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1217Jigten Sumgon dies; Gurawa Tsultrim Dorje (1217-1221) succeeds, then On Sonam Drakpa (1221-1234).Depends on: Natural death on its date (Wikipedia). Stopped by: A change in his circumstances in play.
2. 1268-1290Drikung revolt against Sakya and the Mongols, ending in the sack of Drikung Til in 1290.Depends on: Sakya rule backed by the Yuan, which does not yet exist. Stopped by: No Mongol conquest of Tibet.

Places of note

• Drikung Til: The monastery, founded 1179

Where the sources disagree

• The German Wikipedia coordinates (30.106 N, 91.205 E) put Drikung Til in Lhunzhub County, which cannot be right for Maizhokunggar County; we place it at about 30.2 N, 92.05 E in the Drikung valley and mark it approximate.
• The English page on Maizhokunggar County says Lingchen Repa founded Drikung Til in 1179; every other page says Jigten Sumgon.

Evidence: The founder, the 1179 date, the Kyura clan, the Lhapa mission and the later wars are on several pages. Where the monastery stands and who its patrons are is not. Treasury of Lives, the Blue Annals, the Red Annals, Petech, Sorensen and Hazod and Davidson could not be opened in this session (treasuryoflives.org and rigpawiki.org refused the fetch; the archive.org full texts were refused or cut off), so facts marked 'recalled' are from memory of those works and unchecked.

On the map: Position approximate. The wider Drikung valley is drawn on the province record.

Primary sources for Tibet (centre)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
• The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
• The collected works of Lama Zhang, and the early Kagyu lives, Lama Zhang (Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa) and his disciples; the biographers of Drigung, Taklung and Phagmodru (the 1160s to the early 13th century). The nearest contemporary witnesses to the lords of central Tibet in 1200. Read online
• The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
• History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
• Indo-Tibetica (the temples and inscriptions of western Tibet), with the Royal Genealogy of Ngari, Giuseppe Tucci (editor and translator); the genealogy by Ngawang Drakpa (Ngag dbang grags pa) (the inscriptions and temple records of the 11th to 15th centuries; Indo-Tibetica published 1932 to 1941; the genealogy about 1497). Guge, Purang and Ladakh in 1200 are among the least documented kingdoms in the atlas. Read online