Bajracharya

A Bajracharya is a Vajrayana Buddhist priest among the Newar communities of Nepal. Bajracharya means 'vajra holding priest'. They are also commonly called Guruju or Guvajhu which are Nepali terms related to the Sanskrit term guru, and translate as 'teacher' or 'priest'. The Bajracharya is the highest ranking of the Newar castes that are born Buddhist. [cite book|last=Hattaway|first=Paul|title=Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Diary|publisher=William Carey Library|date=2004|pages=p.198|isbn=0878083618|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OzEOKNPsv2EC&dq=Bajracharya+Buddhist&client=firefox-a&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0] To become a professional Guruju, a person of the bajracharya caste must go through a number of rituals. The bajracharya boy goes through a ritualistic process of initiation known as "Bajravishekha" [cite web|url=http://www.bajracharya.org/nepalibuddhism.htm|title=A Brief Introduction of Distinctive Features of Nepalese Buddhism|date=2002|accessdate=2008-07-27] , including shaving off the head as the buddha and asking for alms, at a minimum of seven houses a day in different places, in the tradition of monks since the time of Gautama Buddha.

Sometimes tantric Newar Buddhism is referred to as 'Bajracharya Buddhism'.

References

Further reading

*cite book|last=Gellner|first=David N.|title=Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and its Hierarchy of Ritual (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology) |publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1992|isbn=978-0521383998