The Mongol historian Sanang Setsen relates[938] that Pagspa took a higher seat than the Emperor when instructing him and on other occasions sat on the same level.  This sounds improbable, but it is clear that he enjoyed great power and dignity.  In China he received the title of Kuo-Shih or instructor of the nation and was made the head of all Buddhists, Lamaists and other.  In Tibet he was recognized as head of the Church and tributary sovereign, though it would appear that the Emperor named a lay council to assist him in the government and also had a commissioner in each of the three provinces.  This was a good political bargain and laid the foundations of Chinese influence in a country which he could hardly have subdued by force.

Pagspa was charged by the Emperor to provide the Mongols with an alphabet as well as a religion.  For this purpose he used a square form of the Tibetan letters,[939] written not in horizontal but in vertical lines.  But the experiment was not successful.  The characters were neither easy to write nor graceful, and after Pagspa’s death his invention fell into disuse and was replaced by an enlarged and modified form of the Uigur alphabet.  This had already been employed for writing Mongol by Sakya Pandita and its definitive form for that purpose was elaborated by the Lama Chos-kyi-hod-zer in the reign of Khubilai’s successor.  This alphabet is of Aramaic origin, and had already been utilized by Buddhists for writing religious works, so its application to Mongol was merely an extension of its general currency in Asia.[940]

Pagspa also superintended the preparation of a new edition of the Tripitaka, not in Mongol but in Chinese.  Among the learned editors were persons acquainted with Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan and Uigur.  An interesting but natural feature of this edition is that it notes whether the various Chinese texts are found in the Tibetan Canon or not.

Khubilai further instituted a bureau of fine arts, the head of which was a Lama called Aniko, skilled in both sculpture and painting.  He and his Chinese pupil Liu Yuan introduced into Peking various branches of Tibetan art such as Buddhist images of a special type, ornamental ironwork and gold tapestry.  The Chinese at this period appear to have regarded Tibetan art as a direct importation from India.[941] And no doubt Tibetan art was founded on that of Nepal which in its turn came from Bengal.  Miniature painting is a characteristic of both.  But in later times the individuality of Tibet, shown alike in its monstrous deities and its life-like portraits of Lamas, imposed itself on Nepal.  Indian and Tibetan temples are not alike.  In the former there is little painting but the walls and pillars are covered with a superabundance of figures carved in relief:  in Tibet pictures and painted banners are the first thing to strike the eye, but carvings in relief are rare.