ʼPhags-pa Lama (Tibetan Chos-rgyal-ʼphags-pa; Chinese 拔合思巴 / 八思巴 / 癹思巴), 1235-04-02 to 1280-12-22, was the Fifth Patriarch of the Sa-skya 薩迦派 sect of Tibetan Buddhism and the dominant Buddhist authority of the early Yuán empire. Born into the Sa-skya family of southern Tibet on the sixth day of the third month of Duānpíng 2 (= 2 April 1235); died on the twenty-second day of the eleventh month of Zhìyuán 17 (= 22 December 1280).
In 1253 (aged 19) he was summoned to the court of Khubilai 忽必烈 (later Yuán Shìzǔ) and conferred the bodhisattva-precepts on the future emperor. Upon Khubilai’s enthronement (1260), he was created Imperial Preceptor (Dìshī 帝師) and given charge of Buddhist affairs throughout the empire and of Tibetan-region administration (Xuānzhèngyuàn 宣政院 jurisdiction). His standing as the de facto head of Yuán Buddhism was unmatched. By imperial commission, he created the ʼPhags-pa script (bāsībā wén 八思巴文) in 1269 — a writing system based on Tibetan letterforms, designed to write Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Uyghur — for the imperial chancery.
His extant Chinese-canon works include the Zhāng suǒzhī lùn 彰所知論 (T1645), the Gēnběn shuō yīqiè yǒubù chūjiā shòu jìnyuán jiémó yífàn (KR6k0191, T1904), and the Gēnběn shuō yīqiè yǒubù bìchú xíxué lüèfǎ (KR6k0192, T1905). The Chinese versions of the latter two were prepared at the Yuán court for the introduction of Mūlasarvāstivāda ordination procedure into Mongol-imperial Buddhist practice. His chief Chinese disciple was Shāluóbā 沙囉巴 (DILA A000529).
Sources: DILA Buddhist Person Authority A000650 (Wikidata Q163510, Q45454406; CBDB 0113427); Bǔ xù gāosēng zhuàn j. 1 Bāsībā zhuàn; Xīnxù gāosēng zhuàn j. 2; Biànwěi lù (T2116, j. 3).