Vajrayana Buddhism

Vajrayana Buddhism is one of the most important and most followed Buddhist tradition in the present states of Buddhism in the whole world. Also known as the Tantric Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism is also represented as the Diamond Way or Thunderbolt Way and Indestructible Way. In Buddhism, there are believed to be three great vehicles that lead to the path of Enlightenment or Nirvana and they are Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism. As mentioned in Buddhist scriptures, Vajrayana Buddhism is considered as the complex as well as multifaceted Buddhist tradition where Buddhist sutras, methods and Buddhist practices are developed over a long period of time through the development of Buddha sutras from various Buddhist traditions.

According to Buddhist three turning of the Wheel of the Dharma, Vajrayana was introduced or appeared during the third turning of the Wheel of the Dharma which is believed to take place in Dhanyakataka after 16 years of Nirvana of Buddha. According to Buddhist scriptures, first Vajrayana Buddhist texts appeared in the 3rd century CE. In Nepal, Vajrayana Buddhism is widely followed and the methods and Buddhist practices are vastly practiced by Buddhist disciples of Newar Buddhism who especially from Kathmandu Valley. Aside from Vajrayana Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism is mostly practiced by Tibetan-Nepali Buddhist devout.

Vajrayana Buddhism in Nepal

In Nepal, the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition practiced by Newar Buddhist devout is a very ancient form of Vajrayana Buddhism. This ancient form of Vajrayana Buddhism is believed to have spread out to many other Buddhist countries such as Combodia, Bali, Java, Japan, Korean, and China and so on. According to some marks in the sculptures of Japan, matras written in Japanese Buddhist monuments is quite similar to ancient Rajana script of Nepal.

Being driven by Brahmanism in India, many Buddhist monks fled to various parts of the India as well as many other neighboring countries such as Tibet, Nepal, and so on. The Buddhist tradition they brought from India i.e. Mahayana Buddhism was absorbed in to Hinduism. Newar Buddhist devout strongly focuses on the Sanskrit based Buddhist scriptures and some scholars even stated that they are the only remnants of Buddhist who use Buddhist scripts in Sanskrit.

French Buddhologist claims that "Nepal is the only place where the co-existence of Buddhism and Hinduism can be observed and understand as it was in the first era of Buddhism in India."

Thus Newar Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism in Nepal is taken in with quite importance i.e. Kathmandu valley along with Patan and Bhaktapur is listed as the World Heritage Sites.

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Buddhist Gurus in Nepal

Among the various caste and ethnicities in Nepal, Shakyas and Bajracharyas are the important part of the Buddhist families in Nepal. In order to become the member of Baha i.e. small Buddhist monastery, one must born from the family of these two ethnicities. The religious responsibilities of these Buddhist devout i.e. religious Gurus is to ensured the Buddhist rituals that are practiced by Domestic Buddhist priest i.e. Purohit or Guru. The Buddhist guru in Vajrayana Buddhism ensured the various religious responsibilities such as initiations, wedding, death rites etc. They also involved in various Buddhist rituals in Buddhist festivals in Nepal such as Buddhist purnima etc. The Vajrayana Buddhist scripts and rituals are all saved by Buddhist Guru.

Newar Ethnicities are also quite popular for their knowledge and expertise other than being a Buddhist devout among all the Buddhist groups in Nepal. Newar Craftsmen are quite famous among South Asian Countries for their superior skills in making high quality Buddha statues of various Buddhist figures such as Buddha, Manjushree Bodhisattvas, thousand hand statues of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and various Buddhist figures of Tibetan Buddha statues too since Tibetan-Nepali ethnicities are also famous being devout Tibetan Buddhist in Nepal. These Nepal Tibet Buddha statues as well as Nepali Buddha statues are brought by many monasteries, Gumba, Baha:, antique collector from all over the world. Thus Newar as well as Vajrayana Buddhism are considered an important Buddhist tradition and what's even more interesting is that these Buddhist tradition still continues the ancient form of Vajrayana Buddhist tradition which is rarely seen in any part of Buddhist countries in the present time.