MAR PA(MARPA; 1002/1012–1097) describe their so-
journs visiting still-recognized valley locations.
Once Buddhism was firmly established in central
Tibet as a result of its second introduction (ca. 1050
C.E.), the northernmost settlements of modern high-
land Nepal became sites where monasteries were es-
tablished by every major school of Tibetan Buddhism.
These areas include Humla in the far west, as well as
(from west to east) Dolpo, Lo-Mustang, Nyeshang,
Nupri, Manang, Langtang, Helambu, Solu-Khumbu,
and Walung. Local boys interested in training to be-
come senior monks would travel to central Tibet and
return to maintain local institutions that typically shel-
tered, at most, a dozen or so monks whose main oc-
cupation was ritual service. This same pattern occurred
for the BONfaith in a few of these regions.
There was a second level of connection with the
monastic networks of central Tibet established among
the Tibeto-Burman–speaking peoples living in the
mid-hills, including the Magars, Gurungs, Tamangs,
and Sherpas. Many of these peoples followed the
RNYING MA(NYINGMA) school and relied on house-
holder lamas to perform Buddhist rituals for their vil-
lages. To train for this service, young men typically
lived for several years as apprentices with elder house-
holder lamas or in the regional highland monasteries.
Most returned to marry and maintain shrines estab-
lished as their family’s own property. Thus, most “Bud-
dhist monasteries” among Tibeto-Burman peoples
were (and are) family shrine-residences, and sons usu-
ally succeed their fathers as local Buddhist ritualists.
By the early Malla era (1350 C.E.) Tibetan monks
came to the Nepal valley to acquire tantric initiations,
ritual practices, and texts from resident masters
(Newars and others), traditions they conveyed up to
the highlands. Some Tibetan monks also established
branch monasteries affiliated with the main Tibetan
schools; the first were located near the monumental
stupas at Svayambhu and Bauddha. Notable Tibetan
teachers probably influenced the practices of Newar
Buddhists.
Although the Hindu state of Nepal, which was es-
tablished in 1769, did not favor Buddhism and tried
to make Buddhists conform to brahmanical laws, theNEPALNepalese lay Buddhists circumambulate the Bodhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, 1997. © Don Farber 2003. All rights reserved.
Reproduced by permission.