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A Bajracharya or Vajracharya is a Vajrayana Buddhist priest among the Newar communities of Nepal and a Revered Teacher who is highly attained in Vajrayana practices and rituals. Vajracharya means 'vajra holding priest'. They are also commonly called Guru-ju or Gu-bhaju (a short form for Guru Bhaju) 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. The emergence of Vajracharya institution is ascribed to the decline of celibate Buddhist monks in about 13th century, and the emergence of Vajrayana.〔(A History of Nepal, John Whelpton, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 30 )〕 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'',〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A Brief Introduction of Distinctive Features of Nepalese Buddhism )〕 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 and Esoteric Buddhism is referred to as 'Vajracharya Buddhism'. The writers of ''Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-century Nepal'' explore the unusual relationship of the Vajracharyas and their assistant Shakyas with Buddhist monasticism: Unlike Vajracharyas, Shakya men may not be priests for others, but together with Vajracharya men they are the members of the traditional Newar Buddhist monasteries, known honorifically as vihara and colloquially as baha or bahi. In so far as Shakya and Vajracharya men filled their roles in the monastery, they were monks. In effect, they were married, part-time monks. Many of the modern Buddhist scholars in Nepal belong to the Vajracharya tradition.〔(The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, Robert A. F. Thurman, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, Serindia Publications, Inc., 2003, p. 12 )〕 ==See also== * Jain Mahatma * Newar caste system 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vajracharya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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