This is the Northern Sagya Monastery. It was built by Khon Khonchog Gyalpo at the foot of the Bonbo Mountain by the Drongchu River in Xigaze. He acted as the host of the monastery and imparted dharma there for close to 30 years, laying a foundation for the formation and development of the Sagya Sect. Later, it was passed on to Konggar Gyaincain (1182-1251), who enjoyed high prestige over a wide area and was called "Sagya Pandit (referring to a great scholar)". With the prospering of the sect and due to the backing of the Central Government of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), the political center of Tibet moved westward to Sagya.

In 1235, Mongolia attacked the Southern Song Dynasty on a large scale. The great-grandson of Genghis Khan, called Godan, was in charge of directing the forces on the western route. In order to tighten the rule over Xixia and the Tibetan-inhabited areas in Gansu and Qinghai and guarantee the security of Mongolian forces when they made an expedition southward to Sichuan, he decided to carry out a military action on Tibet so as to being the Tibetan-inhabited area under the control of the Mongol Empire. He sent General Dorta Nambo to lead cavalry deep into Tibet. Godan realized that the local religious forces should be utilized to unify Tibet. He found out that the Sagya had the greatest influence at that time and its abbot Konggar Gyaincain enjoyed the highest prestige among the sects in Tibet. Hence, Godan invited him to meet him in Liangzhou (present-day Wuwei in Gansu).