traditions and loyalty of most Buddhist ethnic groups
has endured, as have Nepal’s family-based monaster-
ies. Since 1990 the strength of Buddhist identity that
is held together by these institutions among the
Tibeto-Burman groups has become the basis of eth-
nic nationalism directed against the high caste dom-
inated Hindu state.
The Kathmandu valley is now one of the most im-
portant centers of Tibetan Buddhism in the world for
several reasons. First, one of the world’s largest con-
centrations of Tibetan refugees has settled in the
Kathmandu valley, where they have focused on build-
ing institutions for their communities. Some of the
profits generated by the carpet-weaving industry have
been used to expand the initial structures and build
new monasteries. Second, since about 1970, many of
the most affluent Tibeto-Burman Buddhists from
Nepal have chosen to establish homes in the valley,
both for business and political purposes. Prominent
donors from this community have bought lands and
built monasteries that have drawn monks or nuns from
their home regions. Finally, as Tibetan Buddhism has
become increasingly attractive to Westerners, promi-
nent Tibetan lamas funded by their donations have es-
tablished “dharma centers” that in most ways resemble
traditional monasteries. Here one can find textual
study and meditation being pursued by both ethnic Ti-
betans and Westerners clad in monastic robes.
Newar Buddhism (1000 C.E. to the present)
By the early Malla era, the valley had become an im-
portant regional center active in domesticating an in-
digenous Indic Mahayana Buddhism. Nepalese monks
developed a highly ritualized Buddhist culture among
the Newars, whose life-cycle rites, Mahayana festivals,
and temple ritualism reached high levels of articula-
tion. It was VAJRAYANABuddhism and tantric initia-
tion that assumed the highest position in local
understanding, though only a few practiced esoteric
traditions. MONASTIC ARCHITECTUREreflects this de-
velopment: In the large courtyards that define the
monastic space, the shrines facing the entrance have,
on the ground floor, an image of S ́akyamuni, but on
the first floor above is the agama,a shrine with a Va-
jrayana deity, with access limited to those with tantric
initiation.
By the later Malla era (1425–1769 C.E.), when Hindu
shrines and law were in the ascendancy, Newar Bud-
dhism underwent many changes and assumed roughly
the form extant today. This era was marked by the
building of many new viharas,but there was also a lit-
eral domestication of the san ̇gha, wherein former
monks became householders. These Newar house-
holder monks called themselves Bare(from the San-
skrit term vandeor vandana,an ancient Indic term of
respect for monks), adopted the names s ́akyabhiksu,
and vajracarya,and began to function as endogamous
castes. This meant that one had to be born into the
san ̇gha and, with a few exceptions, everyone else was
prohibited from being admitted. Thus, ordination into
celibate monastic life was possible only in the local Ti-
betan san ̇ghas. The Newar san ̇ghas were probably
transforming their tradition to conform to caste laws
and thereby preserve the social and legal standing of
the Buddhist community, as well as their extensive
monastic land holdings. Since that time, those want-
ing to become adult members of the Newar san ̇gha
must first undergo (in local parlance) s ́ravaka-styled
celibate ordination (usually taking three days), then
Mahayana-styled initiation into what is referred to as
the bodhisattva san ̇gha.
Many contemporary Newar monasteries, especially
in Patan, still bear the name of their founding patrons,
some dating back to the early Malla period. Local Bud-
dhist monks, like Hindu panditas(scholars), were es-
pecially active in manuscript copying; by the modern
era, Buddhist monastic libraries had became a vast
repository of Sanskrit texts.
Unlike the monastic institutions of Tibet that fos-
tered in-depth philosophical inquiry and vast com-
mentarial writings, Newar monks produced few
original contributions to Buddhist scholarship. The
Newar san ̇gha’s focus was the performance of rituals
drawing upon deities and powers of the Mahayana-
Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. Like married Tibetan
monks of the Rnying ma order, vajracaryapriests serve
the community’s ritual needs, with some specializing
in textual study, medicine, astrology, and meditation.
Lifelong ritual relations link householders to family
vajracaryapriests, which some have called “Buddhist
brahmins.” Their ritual services are vast, including
Buddhist versions of Hindu life-cycle rites (samskara),
fire rites (homa), daily temple rituals (nitya puja),
MANTRAchanting protection rites, merit-producing
donation rites, stupa rituals, chariot festivals (ratha
jatra), and tantric initiation (abhiseka). Some of these
cultural performances were noted centuries ago in In-
dia. In Kathmandu’s Itum Bahaone can still observe
monks rapping on wooden gongs to mark time, a
monastic custom begun over two thousands years agoNEPAL