Wikipedia's Kham article places Kagyu and Sakya monasteries in Gonjo and Lingtsang without a date.
The Sakya house in Kham that it dates, 1270, is the work of a student of Sakya Pandita and is later than 1200. We mark the place and say plainly that we cannot date any house here to 1200.
Who holds it
- Title
- Abbots of small Kagyu and Sakya houses
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Wikipedia's Kham article says only that Kagyu and Sakya monasteries lay on the northern plains, 'including Gonjo and Lingtsang'; no name, date or abbot is given.
What it holds
- Small valley monasteries (nothing documented)
Allies and rivals
Katok and the Dege valley chiefs; Karma Gon.
How things stand that morning
Possibly standing; undated.
Places of note
- Gonjo (Gongjue): Valley with Kagyu and Sakya temples, undated.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: One undated sentence in Wikipedia's Kham article.
On the map: Marker only.
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
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.