Trichen Yeshe Chophel (1800-1875) was a Gelugpa lama who served as the Eighty-second Ganden Tripa for seven years, from 1880 to 1886. He was educated in Drepung Loseling and Gyume monasteries. He served as the abbot of Gyume and then as the Jangtse Choje in Ganden from where he ascended to the Golden Throne.

Trichen Jangchub Namkha was a Gelugpa lama scholar who served as the Eighty-third Ganden Tripa for five years, from 1886 to 1890. Born in Gyalrong and educated in Serame and Gyuto monasteries in Lhasa, he served as the abbot of Gyuto and then Jangtse Choje at Ganden from where he ascended to the Golden Throne.

Trichen Ngawang Lobzang Tenpai Gyeltsen was a Gelug lama who served as the Eighty-seventh Ganden Tripa for seven years, from 1907 to 1913. Recognized as the Third Tsemonling Tulku, he was born in Amdo and educated in Lhasa, at Sera and Gyuto monasteries. He served series of posts at Gyuto and then the Sharpa Choje at Ganden Shartse prior to his ascent to the Golden Throne of Ganden. During the 1911 Chinese invasion of Tibet he served as acting Regent in the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's absence.

Drokmi Lotsawa Shakya Yeshe was a translator active in the 11th century, during the second diffusion of Buddhism to Tibet, and is known to have spent a number of years in India and Nepel. Drokmi is primarily known for bringing the Lamdre teachings to Tibet, on which the Sakya tradition was founded.

Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen, commonly referred to as Sa-pan, was the fourth of the Five Patriarchs of Sakya and the sixth Sakya throne holder. A member of the illustrious Khon family that established and controlled the Sakya tradition, he was an advocate for strict adherence to Indian Buddhist traditions, standing in opposition to Chinese or Tibetan innovations that he considered corruptions. In this regard he was a major player in what has been termed the Tibetan Renaissance period, when there was a move to reinvigorate Tibetan Buddhism’s connections to its Indian antecedents. He was instrumental in transmitting the Indian system of ten major and ten minor sciences to Tibet. As an ordained monk, Sa-pan was instrumental in laying the groundwork for adherence to the Vinaya at Sakya Monastery, built under his successors. He authored more than one hundred texts and was also a prolific translator from Sanskrit. His writings are among the most widely influential in Tibetan literature and prompted commentaries by countless subsequent authors. Sa-pan’s reputation as a scholar and Buddhist authority helped him forge close ties with powerful Mongols, relations that would eventually lead to the establishment of Sakya Monastery and its position of political power over the Thirteen Myriarchies of Central Tibet. The Sakya tradition identifies Sa-pan as an emanation of Manjushri and the nineteenth century Patrul Rinpoche named him one of the Three Manjughoshas of Tibet along with Longchen Rabjam and Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa.

Sakya Lotsawa Jampai Dorje (1485-1533) was one of the most prolific writers of the Sakya tradition. A master of the Sucho Labrang, he served as the twenty-second Sakya Tridzin, from 1496 to 1533 (in some enumerations he is listed as the twenty-first or twenty-third).

Draktengpa Yonten Tsultrim was a student of Rinchen Zangpo and a teacher of Mal Lotsawa Lodro Drakpa, in a lineage of Vajra Panjarnata Mahakala, the protector associated with the Hevajra tantra.

Mal Lotsawa Lodro Drak was an important translator involved in several Sakya lineages of Mahakala and Chakrasamvara.