How Sakya Pandita’s Advice Supports a Non-sectarian, Rime Approach 5th July 2025 Sakya Pandita, known as Sapan for short, was the third of the founding fathers (Tib: Gongmas) of the Sakya school. Born in 1182, he is said to have had 25 previous births as a pandita (learned sage) and to have spoken Sanskrit soon after his birth. He soon came to be recognised as an emanation of Manjushri (the Bodhisattva of wisdom) and began his teaching of the highest level of Vajrayana practice (Hevajra) at just nine years old. In his book, The Sakya School, Dhongthog Rinpoche (1933 – 2013) describes how Sapan came to possess ‘an unerring intellectual understanding of all topics in Dharma and inconceivable meditation and absorption’. Amongst Sapan’s works is Discriminating the Three Vows, described in Dhongthog Rinpoche’s account as a text composed in order to ‘clear away the grime of misconception’ about Lord Buddha’s teachings. Karma Thinley Rinpoche first introduced students of Lama Jampa to this text in 1979. Since his first teaching of this text at Dechen’s retreat centre in France some years ago, Lama Jampa Thaye has been teaching it over the past three years in the UK and in Germany; and more recently, at the invitation of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling in France. By the time Sapan was born the entire collection of Dharma teachings brought from India had become established in Tibet. This was essentially the same body of teachings we know today as Tibetan Buddhism, with its various schools and lineages. Since Dharma is not in need of alteration, Sapan’s commentaries have retained their validity ever since. Consequently, this work and others of his have played an important role in maintaining the purity of Tibetan Dharma. This function is still much needed today, if we remember that Tibetan Dharma is, relatively speaking, newly arrived in the West. As such, it has become subject to interpretation and sometimes re-interpretation by Western scholars and enthusiasts. This is a message that Lama Jampa conveys to his own students: that we should do what we can to help maintain the purity and authenticity of the teachings by studying Sakya Pandita’s words and practising accordingly. Sapan composed his ‘Three Vows’ text for the benefit of all Tibetan Buddhists regardless of their school. He explains how Vajrayana practice must be preceded by Refuge and Bodhicitta vows taken and kept correctly throughout the practitioner’s life. He also clarifies the significance of rituals and vows pointing out the pitfalls of deviation from practices as handed down through respective lineages of masters. In this way, the text serves as a manual to help us to ensure our Vajrayana practice is effective. In the section of the text Lama Jampa taught most recently in Bristol, Sapan explains how any given Vajrayana teaching, for example a yidam practice, should have an integrity of parts that fit together coherently as a whole, and which can be traced back to an authentic Dharmic source. In short, any given system of Dharma should be fully in accord with the teachings of Buddha. Lama Jampa explained Sapan’s point using the metaphor of a system; whether it is producing a car or for travelling the spiritual path, the parts of each need to fit together to work correctly. Each part is dependent on the other. He continued this analogy by saying that in Dharma there are a number of different cars we can use to take us to our destination. However, we would be unwise to take parts out of one car and attempt to fit them in another and still expect the car to work properly. As a Saykapa, Sapan was not suggesting that the Sakya School was the only tradition to maintain fidelity to authentic lineages of teachings. He was emphasising that regardless of school, it is best to follow the system set out by their tradition. For example, a Kadampa will follow the system set out by Atisha, as a particular way of progressing along the path of Buddha. In order for their dharma practice to work, Kadampas need to remain faithful to Atisha’s teachings. To further illustrate this, Sapan tells of some “masters”, calling themselves Kadampas, who devised a ritual for bestowing ultimate Bodhicitta. Sapan points out that any such ritual must be false as Atisha did not proclaim such a thing and ultimate Bodhicitta is accepted as being beyond words and concepts. Reason alone shows such an idea to be false: how could a ritual comprising words and concepts transmit unelaborated reality? In terms of non-sectarianism in the Dharma history of Tibet, another period of interest is worthy of note: a movement known as Rimé. in 19th century Tibet, a group of masters from different schools felt the need to move away from the narrow mindedness of sectarian rivalry. To return to the earlier systems metaphor, the spirit of this movement was the recognition that there were a number of well built “cars” that were capable of transporting a practitioner to the desired destination. The founders of Rime, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye swapped transmissions and accomplished corresponding deity practices from their respective lineages side by side, but without mixing them. A key point not missed by these and later Rimé masters was that the integrity of any given system of practice must be followed without being mixed up with elements taken from some other system, as Sapan had explained. This made it possible to demonstrate the parity of a range of pure lineages Dharma practice, which, in turn, made a positive impact on dissolving sectarian rivalry. The First Karma Thinley, who was guru to the 8th Karmapa Mikyo Dorje, was himself a master of Sakya and Kagyu traditions as well as having received Nyingma and other transmissions faithfully but separately. The current Karma Thinley Rinpoche clearly follows in his illustrious predecessor’s footsteps and is a living example of the Rimé spirit. Inspired by Rinpoche, Lama Jampa has maintained the liberating discipline of this approach since he started teaching Dharma in the mid-seventies. The result is that, in Dechen, students are able to hear a range of very special presentations of Dharma, each with its own authentic provenance. Then, for our own development, under the guidance of the Lama, we are able to find specific sets of practice that will suit us best, while also having some appreciation of their own special characteristics in contrast to other equally valid presentations of Dharma. In conclusion, the non-sectarian Rimé approach, the spirit maintained by Lama Jampa Thaye, is fully in line with principles clearly set out by Sakya Pandita, whose teachings students in Dechen study whether their practice is Kagyu, Nyingma or Sakya. Please note that posts in this blog are not intended to represent full accounts of teachings given by the Lama. They focus on particular aspects of teachings that the authors think may be of interest to people coming new to the Dharma, and other fellow students. They represent the understanding of the authors who bear responsibility for the content. Please address any comments to blog@dechen.org.