page_title: Mudra
section_title: Nomenclature
hierarchical_section_title: Mudra / Nomenclature
caption_attribution_description: English: Photographed in the archeology gallery of Indian Museum, Kolkata.
context_page_description: A mudra; Sanskrit: मुद्रा, IAST: mudrā, "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; Tibetan: ཕྱག་རྒྱ་, THL: chakgya, is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.
  As well as being spiritual gestures employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian religions, mudras have meaning in many forms of Indian dance, and yoga. The range of mudras used in each field (and religion) differs, but with some overlap. In addition, many of the Buddhist mudras are used outside South Asia, and have developed different local forms elsewhere.
  In hatha yoga, mudras are used in conjunction with pranayama (yogic breathing exercises), generally while in a seated posture, to stimulate different parts of the body involved with breathing and to affect the flow of prana, bindu (male psycho-sexual energy), boddhicitta, amrita or consciousness in the body. Unlike older tantric mudras, hatha yogic mudras are generally internal actions, involving the pelvic floor, diaphragm, throat, eyes, tongue, anus, genitals, abdomen, and other parts of the body.
context_section_description: The Chinese translation is yin (Chinese: 印; pinyin: yìn) or yinxiang (Chinese: 印相; pinyin: yìnxiàng). Both these Chinese words also appear as loanwords in Japanese (as in and inzō or insō, respectively) and Korean (as in and insang, respectively). Two other Chinese-based compounds, 印契 (read as ingei or inkei in Japanese and as ingye in Korean) and 密印 (read as mitsuin or mitchin in Japanese and as mirin in Korean), are also used. In Japanese, the former compound may also be used with the order of the characters reversed (i.e. 契印 keiin).
caption: Buddha images in different mudras, Indian Museum, Calcutta, from Sarnath, 6th-century
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