TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)the biihii, or in his own home if he has such a shrine. He is entitled to have
jajamiinas - client families - for whom he acts as priest and from whom he
receives a stipend for his services. In each biihii where there are Vajradiryas,
there is an aciirya-guthi composed of all the Vajracarya members of the sangha,
and in Kathmandu there is an overall organization of all the Vajracaryas of the
city known simply as the Aciirya-Guthi. This Aciirya-Guthi was responsible for
standardizing ritual and providing ritual texts for its members. For this reason
there is greater uniformity in the performance of ritual in Kathmandu than in
Patan or Bhaktapur; and the Vajracaryas of Kathmandu are recognized by their
confreres in Patan and Bhaktapur as experts in the performance of the ritual. The
Aciirya-Guthi also strictly controlled the relationship between the Vajracaryas
and their clients. Client families were passed on from father to son as a right
consequent upon ordination. The clients had no say whatsoever in the selection
of their priests. However, as a result of a dispute some years ago which lasted
nearly thirty years, the Aciirya-Guthllost its hold both over its priests and over
its clients. Now people feel free to call any Vajracarya if they are disatisfied
with their priest.^23
From a religious and social point of view, the most vital service provided to
the Buddhist community by the bare is the priestly service of the Vajracaryas.
They are needed for caste initiations, marriages, worship of the lineage deity,
and all principal pujiis, whether performed in the home or at a biihii. Hence the
dominant place of the Vajracarya and of the Aciirya-Guthi in Kathmandu, whose
eighteen biihiis are still recognized as the principal biihiis of Kathmandu.
There are today some 363 Buddhist vihiiras still extant in the Valley, but they
are not all of equal status. Among the biihiis there are two broad categories
called in Newari mu-biihii and kacii-biihii; that is, main vihiiras (Sanskrit mula)
and branch vihiira (Sanskrit siikha). A main vihiira is one in which bare-
chuyegu initiations are rightfully performed. The branch vihiiras are just
what the name indicates: branches of the main institutions founded when
the pace in the original vihiira would no longer accommodate the ever-
expanding sangha, or when a lay donor was moved to found a vihiira and donate
it to one lineage of an existing vihiira-sangha. Originally it seems that new
monasteries were founded with independent sanghas, but there came a time
when the number of official monasteries became fixed and new foundations
were considered to be branches of the original monastery. In such a case the
members of a branch are still considered to be members of the main monastery
and must receive their initiation there, take their tum in the shrine and serve as
elders of the sangha. At the same time they have similar obligations towards
their branch monastery.
Thus in Patan there are eighteen main biihiis, called 'The Fifteen Bahas'.^24 In
addition there are over 130 biihiis which are branches of these main
monasteries.^25 In Kathmandu there are eighteen biihiis belonging to the Aciirya-
Guthi, all of which have Vajracarya members and several have only Vajracarya.
To this day they are considered to be the most important biihiis of Kathmandu,