- This article is about Tibetan Buddhist teachers. For other uses of the word see Lama (disambiguation)
Lama (Tibetan: བླ་མ་; Wylie: bla-ma) is a title for a Tibetan teacher of Dharma. The Tibetan script is an Abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Ladakhi language The Wylie transliteration scheme is a method for transliterating the Tibetan script using the keys on a typical English language Typewriter. Definitions of Tibet See also Definitions of Tibet Name In English The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European The Sanskrit term ( Devanāgarī: धर्म Pali transliteration dhamma) is an Indian spiritual and religious The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru (see Tibetan Buddhism and Bön). A guru (गुरु গুরু is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge wisdom and authority in a certain area and uses it to guide others Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including Bön ( is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet. Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, has recognized the Bön tradition as the fifth principal spiritual The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or (in the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools) advanced tantric practitioner to designate a level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a title such as Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama applied to a lineage of reincarnate lamas (Tulkus). MONK is a Monte Carlo software package for simulating nuclear processes particularly for the purpose of determining the neutron multiplication factor or k-effective The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism (the other three being the Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug) The Kagyu or Kagyupa school also known as the " Oral Lineage " or Whispered Transmission school is one of four main schools of Himalayan This articles concerns the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism For information on the ancient Śākya tribe see Shakya. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people according to Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama ( Tibetan: པན་ཆེན་བླ་མ་ Chinese: 班禪喇嘛 is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama A tulku ( also tülku, trulku) is a Tibetan Buddhist Lama who has through Phowa and Siddhi, consciously
Perhaps due to misunderstandings by early western scholars attempting to understand Tibetan Buddhism, the term Lama has historically been erroneously applied to Tibetan monks generally. Similarly Tibetan Buddhism was referred to as Lamaism by early western scholars and travelers who did not understand that what they were witnessing was a form of Buddhism; they may also have been unaware of the distinction between Tibetan Buddhism and Bön. Bön ( is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet. Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, has recognized the Bön tradition as the fifth principal spiritual The term Lamaism is now considered derogatory.
See also
- See Category:Lamas for a list of Tibetan Buddhist teachers.