The Sakyas and Vajracaryas are the highest Buddhist castes among the Newars, the indigenous people of Kathmandu Valley of Nepal and the inheritors of the most authentic monastic rituals and traditions. The author here presents a record of their unique form of Buddhist devotionalism and ritual. The esoteric liturgies performed each day at the main shrines of babas and babis (as traditional Newar Buddhist vibaras are know) are described and the relationship of these rites to other elements of Newar Buddhist practice are analyzed in order to shed light on connections between the latter and Buddhist practices elsewhere.

Buddhist Daily Ritual: The Nitya Puja in Kathmandu Valley, Gregory Sharkey, Orchid Press, Hardcover, 360 pp., $39.50

Gregory Sharkey is a member of the Department of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University, in California, where he teaches Asian religious traditions.