Emperor Shi is a position specially set up by the Yuan Dynasty, which reflects the management of religion in the Yuan Dynasty. It originated from the "national teacher". As early as the period of Möngke Khan, Mongolia appointed the monk Haiyun to take charge of the teachings, the Taoist priest Li Changzhen to take charge of the Taoist affairs, and the Kashmiri Namo was the national teacher, awarded the jade seal, and the whole world explained the teachings, which shows that the Mongolian royal family had already managed various religions at that time, and appointed leaders, but each religion was led by its own people. After Kublai Khan became the Great Khan, he appointed Phags-pa as the national teacher, which did not exceed Möngke Khan's respect for Namor and Karma Pakhi, but at the same time, he also used Phag-pa to "serve as the head of the Central Plains and rule the whole world", which already had the meaning of making Buddhism higher than other sects and becoming the exclusive faith of the royal family.
In 1270, Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, promoted Phags-pa to the title of "imperial teacher" (see picture on page 133), and from then until the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, successive emperors were appointed emperors. There are more than a dozen emperors mentioned in the Tibetan and Chinese historical books, and except for one or two whose identities have not yet been ascertained, the rest belong to the Sakya Kun family. According to the research of the famous Tibetan scholars Wang Sen and Dongga Lobsang Chilie, the sequence of the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty is as follows:
Phags-pa (1235-1280), served as national teacher from 1260 to 1270 and imperial teacher of Kublai Khan from 1270 to 1280;
Rinchen Gyaltsen (1238-1279), half-brother of Phags-pa, served as emperor of Kublai Khan from 1276 to 1279;
Dharmabala (1268-1287), the son of Phag Padi Chana Dorjee, served as the emperor of Kublai Khan from 1281 to 1286;
Yixi Rinchen (1249-1295), Phags-pa**, served as the emperor of Kublai Khan from 1286 to 1291
Zhaba Ose (1246-1303), an attendant of Phags-pa, served as the emperor of Kublai Khan and Wanzedu of Yuan Chengzong from 1291 to 1303
Rinchen Gyaltsen (1257-1305), the younger brother of the fourth emperor Yixi Rinchen, served as the emperor of Yuan Chengzong Wanze Du from 1303 to 1305
Sam Pobe (1267-1314), the nephew of the fifth emperor Zhaba Ose, served as the emperor of Yuan Chengzong Wanze Du, Yuan Wuzong Qu Lu, and Yuan Renzong Pu Yan Du from 1305 to 1314
Gonggalo Chai Gyaltsen Besampo (1299-1327), the nephew of Phags-pa, served as the emperor of Yuanrenzong Puyan Du, Yuanyingzong Gejian, and Emperor Taiding of Yuan, Temur, from 1315 to 1327;
Wang Chu'er is in Tibet, "Yuan History: Shi Lao Biography" said that he served as the emperor of Emperor Taiding of Yuan Taiding and Sun Temur in 1323-1325, but there is no record in Tibetan historical books, it may be the eighth emperor Gonggalo chasing Gyaltsen Besampo when he was not in Dadu, and his deeds are to be examined;
Gonggari Bizhen Gyaltsen Besampo (1308-1341), the nephew of Phags-pa, served as the imperial advisor of Emperor Taiding of the Yuan Dynasty from 1328 to 1329;
Rinchen Tashi, who served as emperor from 1329 to 1332, may also be temporary**, and the emperors listed in the Yuan Shi Lao Biography have not been recorded in Tibetan historical books;
Gongga Gyaltsen Besampo (1310-1358), grandnephew of Phags-pa, served as emperor of Emperor Yuan Shun from 1333 to 1358;
Lachen Sonam Lochai (1332-1362), the great-nephew of Phags-pa, is not recorded in Chinese historical records, and the Sakya Lineage History says that he was the emperor's teacher, and it seems that he was the emperor's teacher of the Yuan Shun Emperor from 1358 to 1362;
Rangaba Zangbu, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty after 1362, served as the emperor's teacher, and after entering the Ming Dynasty, he was named "the national teacher of the blazing Buddha treasure".
The status of the emperor is lofty, and when hundreds of officials go to court and line up, there is a special seat next to the emperor's seat. The court's respect and reverence for the emperor "did everything, although the emperor, the queen, the concubine, and the lord were all worshiped because of the ordination." When traveling, the emperor often sent ministers to greet and see him off, and even lent half a guard of honor, totaling 1,250 people, to open the way for him. Every year in February, when doing Buddhist affairs, 108 monks and 100 operas will be sent to guide the emperor to visit the capital. The emperor's reward was very large. When each emperor ascends the throne, he must specially "bow down and praise", this kind of edict "Luo Zhu is the word", called "Zhu Zhao", that is, the common "pearl edict". After each emperor is established, the emperor will also give a jade seal with a status higher than the gold seal, and give an edict to the world.
The emperor was not only honored during his lifetime, but also treated with courtesy after his death. After his death, Phags-pa not only gave him a title, but also built a real body relics stupa for him in the capital. When he arrived at Yuan Yingzong, he also "ordered each county to build the emperor's Ba Si Pa Palace, and its system was to see the Confucius Temple." When Yuan Tai set the emperor, "the emperor painted the eight Sipa statue eleven, awarded to the provinces, and worshipped it". In the Buddhist activities of the Yuan Dynasty, the day of the emperor's death was the same as the day of Nirvana of the Buddha Shakyamuni.
The status of the emperor is "under the emperor and above one person", that is, the Buddhist teacher of the emperor who rules the world. He was honored and had duties and obligations to the emperor: first, to teach the Dharma, confer precepts, and perform initiation ceremonies; Obey the orders to do Buddhist deeds, wish to prolong the holy life, and pray for the peace of the country and the people. Second, he is in charge of the monks and nuns in the world and is in charge of Buddhist affairs. The Xuanzheng Yuan, the administrative organ that administers Buddhist affairs throughout the country, is in charge of the emperor. And because the Yuan Dynasty mainly used the power of various sects of Buddhism to rule the Tibetan areas of the country, the affairs of the Tibetan areas were also under the jurisdiction of the emperor. Third, it is responsible for propagating Buddhism and promoting Buddhism. It can be seen that the emperor is a senior ** of the Yuan Dynasty, indispensable for a while, and when he cannot serve in the Beijing division for some reason, he must appoint another person.
In 1264, Kublai Khan moved his capital to Dadu and set up an organ called the General System Yuan, which was responsible for the country's Buddhist affairs and the military and administrative affairs of the Tibetan regions. Later, because the Tang Dynasty received the Tibetan envoys in the Xuanzheng Palace, the Yuan Dynasty changed its name to the Xuanzheng Yuan in 1288.
One of the responsibilities of the emperor is to "lead the affairs of the Xuanzheng Yuan", that is to say, he is the highest person in charge of the Xuanzheng Yuan, but it is the envoy who is actually in charge of the Xuanzheng Yuan. Most of the people who served as the envoys were important ministers of the imperial court, the first envoy was concurrently served by the right prime minister of Shangshu Sangge, Yuan Renzong and Yingzong were concurrently served by the right prime minister of Zhongshu Tiemu Dieer, and the right prime minister of Zhongshu was concurrently served by Boyan, the right prime minister of Zhongshu when Emperor Yuan Shun, and later was named "King of Qin". It can be seen that the importance of the Xuanzheng Yuan and its close relationship with the Zhongshu Province and the Privy Council.
Under the envoy of the Yuan, there are also fellow intellectuals, deputy envoys, senators, etc. The Xuanzheng Yuan also has some subsidiary institutions, such as the Dadu Planning and Lifting Office, the Shangdu Planning and Lifting Points, and the Dadu Lifting Treasury, which mainly manage Buddhism and related affairs in the capital and the Shangdu where the emperor is stationed in Xia. In some places, the Xuanzheng Yuan also has a branch of the Xuanzheng Yuan. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was the Hangzhou Xingxuanzheng Yuan, which was in charge of Jiangnan Buddhism; Tubo Xingxuanzheng Yuan, dealing with the first Buddhist affairs; There are also Fujian Xuanzheng Yuan, Shaanxi Xuanzheng Yuan, etc.
Under the Xuanzheng Yuan, the Yuan Dynasty also successively set up three Marshal Offices of the Propaganda Envoy Sidu in the Tibetan areas of the country, namely: the Marshal Mansion of the Propaganda Envoy in Tubo and other places, which mainly governed the Tibetan areas of today's Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, as well as the northern part of the two autonomous prefectures of Ganzi and Aba in present-day Sichuan; The Tubo and other roads proclaimed the Marshal Mansion, which mainly governed the Tibetan areas in present-day Sichuan and Yunnan provinces; Wu Si Zang Nari Soguru Sun and other three-way propaganda envoys to the Marshal Sidu Mansion, governing the Wei, Tibet and Ali regions. Under the Marshal Mansion of the three Xuanfu envoys, there are also a series of ** and organizational structures, among which the more advanced ones, such as the Marshal of the Xuanfu Envoy, the Marshal, the Transshipment, the Ten Thousand Households and some of the important thousands of households, are nominated by the Emperor or the Xuanzheng Yuan, and then appointed by the emperor, and the head of the ten thousand households and the head of the thousand households are served by the local monks and lay leaders, allowing them to be hereditary, which has gone through the Ming and Qing dynasties until modern times.