How it all began
In 1959, the political upheaval in Tibet triggered a massive exodus of Tibetans to India and neighboring countries and left a large void in the religious and cultural life of the Tibetans. Once in India, under the benign leadership of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and with humanitarian help from the government of India and various aid agencies, rehabilitation centres and schools were soon established and efforts were made to preserve and promote the distinct religious and cultural heritage of the Tibetans.
His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trizin formally established the Sakya Centre in 1964 with the primary objective to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of Tibetan Buddhism in general and in particular that of the Sakya Tradition. In the initial years of its inception, the members faced many hardships due to lack of funds, language difficulties and problems in adjusting to the new environment.
In the beginning, the caring owner of Pratap Kothi kindly rented his hall to the Centre, and for quite some time this served as the Sakya Centre. Soon the Centre had to vacate the hall and the monks had to live in tents on another piece of land also kindly provided by the owner of Pratap Kothi. The tents not only served as dormitories, but also as the shrine room and kitchen, etc. After some time the monks had to disperse from this makeshift establishment due to acute financial difficulties and it was not possible to run the Centre. However, with the blessings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the thoughtful guidance of His Holiness Sakya Trizin together with the continuous efforts and dedication of the then members, Sakya Centre once again was re-established-this time in an old rented bungalow at 187 Rajpur Road, Dehradun.
It soon became necessary to secure the bungalow and the land around it in order to accomplish the objectives of the Centre. His Holiness the Dalai Lama kindly gave financial support so that the property could be purchased. Loans and donations from various aid agencies and individual supporters also contributed to this major endeavour. Monks once again gathered and young monks also joined the Centre.
A study curriculum was then developed according to the traditional monastic training in Tibet, and Sakya Centre functioned as a monastic institute imparting traditional education to the young monks while the elder monks continued with their spiritual practice as they had previously in Tibet.
Through the years, the monastery gradually adapt its curriculum to add language subjects such as English and Hindi to better educate the monks. These efforts were formalised in 2017, when His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin established the Sakya Centre Education Department in order to provide proper planning of the student monks’ education.