If a lama and a llama fought...

General Questions
#1

Or more accurately, a lama and a lama; I’ve been looking into the various differences between monastic buddhist traditions in various parts of asia, and it got me wondering: Tibetan Geluk monks and Japanese Shingon monks seem to study very similiar things (many of the same sutras and literature, very similiar types of meditation, and the like), but they seem to have markedly different pacing: I understand that your average Geluk monk will spend between fourteen and sixteen years studying before he sits for his Geshe exam, whereas your average monk scholar in the Shingon discipline only spends 6-8 years, or 10 if he’s serious, studying for his formal exams.

So what’s the difference in the two systems, that allows a Shingon monk to complete his or her education years earlier? Do they have a smaller canon, or is the lack of emphasis on debate in the Shingon tradition enough to cut five years out of their program?

#2

An this has what do do with a llama, which is an animal? Or have I been whooshed?

#3

Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-galunga.

#4

But if they fought violently enough to cause bystanders to call the fire departmenty for assistance, could that be a three-alarmer? (Apologizes to Ogden Nash.)

#5

The monk from the Shaolin monastery wins!

#6

BTW: You find Buddhist monks all over Asia, but you only find lamas in Tibet.

#7

If a lama fought a llama and the fight alarmed a llama would that be a three alarma llama llama duck?