By BINAYA GURUSWAMY - Associated Press Writer

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- He may be only 4 years old, but his devout followers have waited nine years for his return. On Sunday, he arrived -- the Buddhist monk believed to be reincarnated in the body of a spirited American boy.

A cluster of overjoyed monks circled around the boy at the Katmandu airport, hoisting him onto their shoulders and presenting him with a beautiful beige silk scarf, in keeping with an ancient Tibetan custom.

The boy thanked them for ending a journey that had begun in his birthplace of Seattle, Wash., and had left him ambling through the two-story airport.

"It's a long way, and I was tired of walking," the boy said as he was carried to the car that drove him to the monastery that he will lead -- after he spends years studying the Tibetan language and Buddhism.

The boy, whose name at birth was Sonam Wangdu, is called Trulku-la (pronounced Tu'-ka-la), and is recognized by Tibetan Buddhists as Deshung Rinpoche IV -- the reincarnation of a high lama who died in Seattle in 1987.

Trulku-la is the Tibetan term for reincarnation.

Deshung Rinpoche III moved to Seattle in 1960 after China's military took over Tibet, and taught at the University of Washington. He was said to be a reincarnation of the original Deshung Rinpoche, who lived in Tibet in the 19th century.

Before he died, Rinpoche III told his students he would be reborn in the Seattle area.

While pregnant with Trulku-la, Carolyn Lama had dreams and received other signs that she and her Buddhist teacher saw as evidence the child would be the reincarnation.

The boy's father, who died in a traffic accident in 1993, also had had portentous dreams.

Of the hundreds of lamas -- or teachers -- said to be reincarnations in the Tibetan Buddhist faith, only a handful have come from the West.

Mrs. Lama and the boy underwent several interviews in Seattle before Trulku-la was brought to Nepal, and at the age of 2, formally enthroned in a ceremony attended by 4,000 people.

After the seven-month-long visit, Mrs. Lama and her son returned to Seattle. They made another four-month-long visit last year. Now Mrs. Lama is preparing to leave her son, who will study subjects ranging from medicine to metaphysics while under the care of the monastery's 38 monks.

During Sunday's brief religious ceremony at the monastery outside Katmandu, Trulku-la lived up to his reputation as a high-energy bundle who prefers playing outdoors over worshiping.

The carpet-covered wooden throne that he had to mount was too tall for him, so his mother placed him on it as the monastery's monks -- and the 25 boys and young men they educate there -- prayed from Tibetan scripts while sitting solemnly on the floor.

At one point, Trulku-la leaned over toward his mother, who also sat below the throne, and said: "I'm tired of doing this."

After drinking tea with the monks, the boy walked outside the monastery, jumped into a toy wagon and allowed a devoted teen-age student to pull him around the courtyard.

Mrs. Lama said she trusts the monks with her boy, but doesn't look forward to leaving him in Nepal.

"This monastery is wonderful," she said. "But I don't know how long I might have to stay with him before leaving."

Temba Wangchuck, a teacher at the monastery, said he would leave the decision to Mrs. Lama. But he also said: "It would be good if he could be left here alone with us because the presence of his mother could divert his mind during his lessons."