They are fully ordained monk capable of showing right paths upto enlightenment which includes teaching Buddhist sutras and tantras and philosophy to novice or ordinary people.
Back when Tibet came under the rules of the Mongolian Khans, Tibetan Buddhism was the state religion and the Mongolian emperor appointed his favorite (personal) lama as the political leader of Tibet....
A lama (the Tibetan monk) is named fom the Tibetan words bla-ma "Superior one" A llama (the wooly Andes animal) from the native language ( Quechua) name for the animals as mispronounced by the...