Lama (Tibetan: བླ་མ་; Wylie: bla-ma) is a title for a Tibetan religious teacher. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term 'guru' (see Tibetan Buddhism and Bön). The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or (in the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools) advanced tantric practitioner to designate a level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a title such as Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama applied to a lineage of reincarnate lamas (Tulkus). Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) The llama (Lama glama) is a South American camelid, widely used as a pack animal by the Incas[1] and other natives of the Andes mountains. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Wylie transliteration scheme is a method for transliterating the Tibetan script using the keys on a typical English language typewriter. ... This article is about historical/cultural Tibet. ... For other uses, see Guru (disambiguation). ... Tibetan Buddhism is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the Himalayan region (including northern Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Ladakh), Mongolia, Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia (Russia), and northeastern China (Manchuria: Heilongjiang, Jilin). ... Bön[1] (Tibetan: བོན་; Wylie: bon; Lhasa dialect IPA: [) is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet. ... For other uses, see Monk (disambiguation). ... Guru Rinpoche - Padmasambhava statue - near Kullu, India The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism (the other three being the Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug). ... The Kagyu (Tibetan: བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་; Wylie: Bka-brgyud) school, also known as the Oral Lineage and the Spotless Practice Lineage school, is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other three being Nyingma (Rnying-ma), Sakya (Sa-skya), and Gelug (Dge-lugs). ... Sakya is one of four major schools (Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug) in Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana). ... Tantric can refer to: Tantric yoga, also known as tantra The Louisville, KY hard rock band Tantric This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. ... Khedrup Je, the 1st Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama (often transliterated as Pänchen Lama) or the Panchen Erdeni, is the one of the two highest ranking lamas (together with the Dalai Lama) in the Gelugpa (Dge-lugs-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhism (the sect which controlled Tibet from the... In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is the reincarnation of a lama or other spiritually significant figure. ...

Perhaps due to misunderstandings by early western scholars attempting to understand Tibetan Buddhism, the term "Lama" has historically been erroneously applied to Tibetan monks generally. Similarly Tibetan Buddhism was referred to as Lamaism by early western scholars and travelers who did not understand that what they were witnessing was a form of Buddhism; they may also have been unaware of the distinction between Tibetan Buddhism and Bön. The term Lamaism is now considered derogatory. Bön[1] (Tibetan: བོན་; Wylie: bon; Lhasa dialect IPA: [) is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet. ...

See also

• See Category:Lamas for a list of Tibetan Buddhist teachers.