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:''This article is about Tibetan Buddhist teachers. For other uses of the word see Lama (disambiguation)
'Lama' () is a title for a Tibetan religious teacher.
The name is similar to the Sanskrit term 'guru' (see Tibetan Buddhism and Bön). The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or (in the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools) advanced tantric practitioner to designate their level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a title such as Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama applied to a lineage of reincarnate lamas (Tulkus).
Perhaps due to misunderstandings by early western scholars attempting to understand Tibetan Buddhism, the term "Lama" was historically, and is still sometimes erroneously, applied to Tibetan monks generally. Similarly Tibetan Buddhism was referred to as ''Lamaism'' by early western scholars and travelers who did not understand that what they were witnessing was a form of Buddhism; they may also have been unaware of the distinction between Tibetan Buddhism and Bön. The term ''Lamaism'' is now considered derogatory.

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★ See for a list of Tibetan Buddhist teachers.