page_title: Vajrayana
section_title: Tantra techniques
hierarchical_section_title: Vajrayana / Tantra techniques
caption_attribution_description: Brass prayer wheels surrounding the Tsuglagkhang Temple in McLeod Ganj. These wheels, too, are inscribed with the "Om Mani Padme Hum" mantra.
context_page_description: Vajrayāna, Vajrā-Mahāyāna, Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Tantric Buddhism and Esoteric Buddhism are terms referring to the various Buddhist traditions of Tantra and "Secret Mantra", which developed in medieval India and spread to Tibet, Bhutan, and East Asia. In Tibet, Buddhist Tantra is termed Vajrayāna, while in China it is generally known as Tángmì Hanmi 漢密 or Mìzōng, in Pali it is known as Pyitsayãna, and in Japan it is known as Mikkyō.
  Vajrayāna is usually translated as Diamond Vehicle or Thunderbolt Vehicle or Indestructible Vehicle, referring to the vajra, a mythical weapon which is also used as a ritual implement.
  Founded by medieval Indian Mahāsiddhas, Vajrayāna subscribes to the literature known as the Buddhist Tantras. It includes practices that make use of mantras, dharanis, mudras, mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas. According to Vajrayāna scriptures, the term Vajrayāna refers to one of three vehicles or routes to enlightenment, the other two being the Śrāvakayāna and Mahāyāna.
context_section_description: While Vajrayana includes all of the traditional practices used in Mahayana Buddhism such as samatha and vipassana meditation and the paramitas, it also includes a number of unique practices or "skillful means" (upaya) which are seen as more advanced and effective. Vajrayana is a system of lineages, whereby those who successfully receive an empowerment or sometimes called initiation (permission to practice) are seen to share in the mindstream of the realisation of a particular skillful means of the vajra Master. Vajrayana teaches that these techniques provide an accelerated path to enlightenment which is faster than other paths.
  A central feature of tantric practice is the use of mantras, seed syllables (bijas), words or a collection of syllables understood to have special powers and hence is a 'performative utterance' used for a variety of ritual ends. Mantras are usually associated with specific deities or Buddhas, and are seen as their manifestations in sonic form. They are traditionally believed to have spiritual power, which can lead to enlightenment as well as supramundane abilities (siddhis).
  Mantras are central to the practice of Buddhist tantra. They are taught in the context of an initiation ceremony by tantric gurus or acharyas to the tantric initiate, who also makes a formal commitment (samaya) to recite them and also not to disclose them to the uninitiated. In tantric meditation, mantras or bijas are used during the ritual evocation of deities which are said to arise out of the uttered and visualized mantric syllables. After the deity has been established, heart mantras are visualized as part of the contemplation in different points of the deity's body.
  According to Alex Wayman, Buddhist esotericism is centered on what is known as "the three mysteries" or "secrets": the tantric adept affiliates his body, speech, and mind with the body, speech, and mind of the Buddha through mudra, mantras and samadhi respectively. Padmavajra (c 7th century) explains in his Tantrarthavatara Commentary, the secret Body, Speech, and Mind of the Tathagatas are:
  Secret of Body: Whatever form is necessary to tame the living beings.
  Secret of Speech: Speech exactly appropriate to the lineage of the creature, as in the language of the yaksas, etc.
  Secret of Mind: Knowing all things as they really are.
caption: "om mani padme hum" prayer wheels.
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