372 sven bretfeld
sgom-rings monastery in ’Bri-gung. The founder belonged to the
sKyu-ra family, that played a role for the school’s history similar to
the one played by the Khon family for the Sa-skya-pa.^64 Next to
the abbot, the ’Bri-gung-pa school established an of ce called sgom-
pa, whose occupant regulated the civil affairs of the monastery and
commanded over military forces.During the early phase of the “later spread” Tibet was, despite its
inner weakness, not a sphere of interest to foreign countries, the situ-
ation changed in the thirteenth century with the emergence of Asia’s
new political power, the Mongol empire. When in 1240 an army sent
by Köden Khan (grandson of inggis) invaded the Central Tibetan
heartland, looting villages, killing people and destroying the monaster-
ies Rva-sgreng and rGyal Lha-khang north of Lhasa, the chieftains of
the various Tibetan areas were engaged in constant warfare with each
other. So, there was no possibility of preventing Tibet from falling
under Mongol supremacy. As it was a usual procedure of the Mongols
with newly conquered territories, Köden ordered that a representative
of the Tibetan people had to mediate between the Mongol court and
the local political rulers. Since at that time Tibet neither possessed a
central government, nor any dominating centre of political power, the
Tibetan nobility decided that Sa-skya Paita should represent Tibetan
interests to the imperial court. The choice of a Buddhist monk as repre-
sentative of the Tibetan people indicates that by the thirteenth century
Buddhism had developed a cultural power capable of integrating the
diverging political forces of the country. It is hardly a coincidence that
Sa-skya Paita was chosen, as he was not only a Buddhist scholar
of high reputation, but also the leader of one of the most in uential
principalities of Tibet.^65 Sa-skya Paita was commanded by Köden
Khan to visit his court in Liangzhou. In 1247 a missive was sent
back to Tibet that informed the local rulers and leading monasteries
about the conditions he had “negotiated” with the Khan regarding
Tibet’s surrender.^66 Tibet was now tributary to the Mongol empire,
(^64) Cf. Sperling 1987.
(^65) The worldly leader of the Khon family, Sa-skya Paita’s brother, had died in
1239, and his sons were still children when the Mongol invasion occurred in 1240.
Therefore, the political responsibility must have been in the hands of Sa-skya Paita
at that time, cf. Schuh 1977, p. XVII. 66
A highly interesting study of the various missives from Mongolian rulers to the
Tibetan clergy was made by D. Schuh (1977).