In Buddhism
In Buddhism, the Pali variant acariya, lit. "teacher", is one of the two teachers of a novice monk, the other being the upādhyāya. In Mahayana traditions the epithet acharya was more widely used as an honorific indicating great scholastic renown; it was somewhat more general than the similar epithet paṇḍita. The Tibetan term loppön is used to translate acharya.
In Japanese esoteric Buddhism, the term is used for initiates: the Japanese Shingon sects employ the acharya title with its qualified priests who have completed training at Mount Koya, while for the Tendai sect it refers to training at Mount Hiei.
Read more about this topic: Acharya
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