08/05/2026
Guru Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya
Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya
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The famous Indian linguist and Buddhist Scholar Suniti Kumar Chatterji once said:
"One great service the people of Nepal did particularly the highly civilized Newars of the Nepal valley, was the preservation of all the manuscripts of Mahayana Buddhist literature in Sanskrit, it was the contribution of Sri Lanka to have preserved for human kind the entire mass of the Pali literature of Theravada Buddhism. This was also on to Burma, Cambodia and Siam. It was similarly the great achievement of people of Nepal to have preserved the equally valuable original Sanskrit texts of Mahayana Buddhism".
However, it is not just the preservation of the Sanskrit texts but the preservation of Vajrayana as a living tradition in its original Sanskrit form is what counts the most as a great credit of Buddhist Newars. It is the continuation of the same Mahayana/Vajrayana tradition that was found in the ancient Buddhist universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila (now extinct in India). Regarding Mahayana/Vajrayana, Advayavajra (978-1053) clearly clarifies in his Advaya-vajra-samgraha as “mahayanam ca dvividham, paramitanayo, mantranayasceti” i.e. “Mahayana is twofold, one paramitanaya and another mantranaya (vajrayana/tantrayana)”. This type of Mahayana emphasizing Mantranaya (Vajrayana) is what the Newahs of Nepal have preserved.
Until recently, Newah Buddhism, otherwise known as Nepalese Buddhism, was a secretly guarded tradition that even the clans other than Bajracharya and Shakya within Newah themselves would have been barred from entering and practicing it, especially the esoteric practices. Few of the Bajracharya masters are however being more open and making it available to all. One of the most recognized Bajracharyas in Nepal at present to have made this Newah Buddhism available to people irrespective of caste, color, creed, country and gender is Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya. He has thus emerged as one of the leaders in revitalization of Newah Buddhism.
Born into one of the family lines of Buddhist Rajguru of Nepal, his birth is in 1941 A.D. in Layeku-Bahi of Kathmandu Durbar Square (the main premises down through the ages of the Kings of Kathmandu/Nepal). In fact, Layeku-Bahi is often called Rajkul-Maha-Vihara though its official name is Sri-Naka-Mahavihara. Among the eighteen main Mahaviharas of Kathmandu, it is associated with the nearby Srikhanda-Tarumula-Mahavihara (the vihara of Mahasiddha Lilavajra). It is in such kind of premises and environment that the child Yagyaman grew. Moreover, seeing his own father Bhojaman Pati Bajracharya (popularly known as Haku Tapuli Kanchha Guruju) dancing the secret vajrayana dance called Charya-Nritya, it was a spontaneous imbibing of the art for him. His father’s instructions worked as the most profound mantra for him to master charya and vajrayana practices that make him what he is today. His father was also the one who gave him Barechuyegu (Buddhist Pravajya ordination) and Acaluyegu (Vajrācārya ordination) in 2004 B.S (cr. 2047 A.D.). In 2006 B.S (cr. 2049 A.D.) he received Cakrasamvara and Vajravarahi Abhisekha (Empowerment) from another of his most important Gurus, Pandit Jog Muni Bajracharya. In 2038 B.S. (Cr. 1981 A.D) Guruju Jog Muni gave the teaching, practice, and empowerment of the Highest Yoga Ta**ra including all the secret aspects of Kriya, Charya and Yoga as well for about three months. This gave Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya a deep-rooted effect to move deeply in Vajrayana again. He also learnt Charya dance from Badri Ratna Guruju, and Charya Songs from Asta Ratna. By then, he had also completed his conventional education up to Master of Commerce from Tribhuvan University, Nepal (1963 A.D.) and Bachelor of Law, Tribhuvan University, Nepal (1974 A.D.); and was already working as a Chief Account Officer in Government Services and later on even becoming Chief Comptroller General.
Every twelve years there is an important program of Yogini Vijeśvarī in Kathmandu Valley and Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya has already performed his role thrice as Mulācārya (chief High Priest). In the 12 years Vijeśvarī festival of 2048 B.S (cr. 1991 A.D.) he started to give mantrābhiṣeka to Sakya females as well. Also, from 2052 B.S (cr. 1995 A.D.) he started to give teaching, practice and empowerment in Charya and vajrayana practices. In 2005 A.D, there was one noticeable event performed under his guidance.
Alexander Bon Rospatt (in Katia Buffertrille, ed. Revisiting Rituals in a Changing Tibetan Context, 2012, p.224) narrates:
"Another notable example is the recent innovation to have gurumas, that is, wives of vajrācāryas, recite the Pancaraksa. This sacred scripture is often recited as part of rituals in order to invoke the five protector goddesses of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Pancaraksa. The recitation, however, is traditionally restricted to vajrācārya (and sākya) males, and it was accordingly a big event when in 2005 for the first time one hundred and eight gurumas publicly recited the Pancaraksa in Jama Bahah, one of the most prominent monasteries of Kathmandu, as part of the performance of the saptavidhnuttara, an elaborate protective ritual frequently performed in public. While the wives of priests have always played an important role in rituals, they do so, with a few important exceptions, as assistants. Hence this newly found role as reciters of sacred texts (for which they practised for some six months under the guidance of Yagyamanpati Bajracharya, a prominent and influential priest) signifies a marked departure from established practice by putting females, in public, in charge of the ritual use of a sacred ta***ic scripture."
Besides this, he has also made available of Buddhist teachings and practices of Newah Vajrayana Buddhism under the teaching system of Bauddhadarshana-adhyayana-puca (Buddhist Teachings Study Group).
Lewis and Bajracharya (in David B. Gray and Ryan Richard Overbey, eds. Ta***ic Traditions in Transmission and Translation, 2016, p. 170) write:
"Yagyamanpati Bajracarya, who has since 2004 offered classes to householders on Vajrayāna tradition, discussing the purposes and philosophical meanings underlying the rituals, taught from his home in Iku Bāhā classes in ta***ic yoga practice based on Cakrasaṃvara visualization, and the chanting of ta***ic songs. His students, primarily educated Śākyas, Bajrācāryas, and Urāy, formally organized the Bauddhadarshana- adhyayana- puca (“Buddhist Teachings Study Group”) that holds regular classes on these subjects."
Because of his activities of making all those secretly guarded practices of Newah Vajrayana Buddhism available to all, he was often criticized and boycotted by his own Bajracharya group. However, people have now slowly started to recognize his contribution and acknowledge his compassionate act. Thus, the more we go into the future, we believe Guru Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya will shine more brighter in the Buddhist sky of Kathmandu valley, the Nepal Mandala.
(This is just a short introduction version written on this day of May-7-2020 Buddha-Purnima from an unpublished article on Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya that the admin of the page “Newah Buddhism नेपालमण्डल बुद्धधर्म Nepalese Buddhism "Newah-Sanskrit Lg." is working on.)
