Portrait of a lama (teacher)

In Tibetan Buddhism, monastic sects developed around the concept of a spiritual hero, or arhat, who demonstrated modes of following the path of the Buddha in new, and often legendary, ways. Knowledge was transmitted through a succession of lamas (teachers), appointed with the belief that the future leader was the reincarnation of the former. Many arhats or lamas were visualized and venerated in a manner similar to bodhisattvas and the historical Shakyamuni Buddha himself.