The author Saban Gongga Jianzan (1182-1251) is the fourth generation founder of Sakya School. He was born in the late Sakya royal family in Tibet, and received strict Buddhist scriptures and Confucian classics education since childhood. He studied under the famous Sakya Monastery and became a famous scholar at that time. He was called the Sakya Monastery Monk. He wrote many books in his life, among which sagar's Motto is one of his major works.
The era when sagar's aphorism came into being was the transition period of Tibetan society from slavery to feudal serfdom. In the middle of the ninth century, after Rondama's death, the Tubo royal family collapsed, slavery was fundamentally destroyed by slave uprisings and riots in various places, and Tibet began to split into many small local power groups. They conquered each other and fought endlessly. It was not until the establishment of the central government of the Yuan Dynasty that the chaotic situation that lasted for more than 300 years ended and Tibet was unified. Due to the requirements of the development of social production itself and the influence of the feudal economic system in the mainland, the feudal elements in the social economy of Tibetan areas gradually increased around the thirteenth century, and the economic structure of feudal serfdom gradually formed. At this time, the religion that was once destroyed by Long Da Ma flourished because of the worship and advocacy of local forces. In some places, while constantly sending people to India to practice Buddhism, the rulers welcome India's famous Buddhist virtues to preach their teachings in Tibet. Due to the differences in inheritance and the needs of local political forces, Buddhism has formed four main factions: Kadang, Kagyu, Sakya and Ma Ning. In order to expand their sphere of influence, the Dalai Lama of various factions built temples, recruited a large number of disciples, wrote books and made statements, and rushed to publicize their teachings or opinions in the form of literature. Therefore, Buddhist philosophy presented a prosperous scene for a period of time.
It is in this historical background that sagar's motto was born. Many aphorisms can still be taught. In art, the outstanding achievement of sagar's aphorism is to use rich metaphorical reasoning to explain the theme. These metaphors include fish, birds, animals and insects, flowers and plants, mountains and rivers, the sun and the moon, knives and scissors, and many allusions, stories and proverbs. The profound and boring ethics are expressed in concise language and easy-to-understand form, with vivid images, bright colors, profound meanings and high artistic level. It not only provides valuable information for us to study Tibetan literature and ideological history, but also can be used as a reference for literary and artistic creation.
The original book "sagar's Motto" consists of 457 poems in nine chapters, and later generations add 5 1 story, such as "Bai Dengqu Collection".