Chakras play an important role in the main surviving branch of Indian Vajrayana, Tibetan Buddhism.

Esoteric movements in Buddhism, which fall under the general category of Vajrayana Buddhism, employ esoteric training into Buddha's teachings, through use of symbols, mantra and hand-gestures, or mudra.

For example, what scholars call Tantric Shaivism was known to its practitioners as the, Tantric Buddhism has the indigenous name of the Vajrayana, and Tantric Vaishnavism was known as the.

* Amoghavajra, 8th century Buddhist monk, translator of Vajrayana scripture, figure in the Tang court, remembered as one of the three founders of Chinese esoteric Buddhism.

Padmasambhava, The Lotus Born, was a sage guru from Oḍḍiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century

Vajrayana ( Devanagari: वज ् रय ा न ; Oriya: ବଜ ୍ ରଯ ା ନ, Tibetan: ར ྡོ་ ར ྗེ་ ཐ ེ ག ་ པ ་, rdo rje theg pa ; Mongolian: Очирт хөлгөн, Ochirt Hölgön, Chinese: 密宗, mì zōng ) is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle.

A distinctive feature of Vajrayana Buddhism is the use of rituals, which are Skillful Means ( Upaya ).

The period of Indian Vajrayana Buddhism has been classified as the fifth or final period of Indian Buddhism.

From the 7th century onwards many popular religious elements of heterogeneous nature were incorporated into Mahayana Buddhism which finally resulted in the origin of Vajrayana, Kalachakrayana and Sahajayana Tantric Buddhism.

( Vajrayana ) Buddhism had mostly died out in India by the 13th century, and tantric religions of Buddhism and Hinduism were also experiencing pressure from invading Islamic armies.

In 747 the Indian master Padmasambhava traveled from Afghanistan to bring Vajrayana Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan, at the request of the king of Tibet.

Kūkai absorbed the Vajrayana thinking from eminent Indian and Chinese Vajrayana teachers at the time, and synthesized a version of which he took back with him to Japan, where he founded the Shingon school of Buddhism, a school which continues to this day.

Vajrayana Buddhism also influenced the construction of Borobudur, a three-dimensional mandala, in central Java circa 800.

The distinctive feature of Vajrayana Buddhism is ritual, which is used as a substitute or alternative for the earlier abstract meditations.

The Vajrayana is based on the concept of " skilful means " ( Sanskrit: upaya ) as formulated in Mahayana Buddhism.

Vajrayana Buddhism is esoteric, in the sense that the transmission of certain teachings only occurs directly from teacher to student during an initiation or empowerment and cannot be simply learned from a book.

Although there is historical evidence for Vajrayana Buddhism in Southeast Asia and elsewhere ( see History of Vajrayana below ), today the Vajrayana exists primarily in the form of the two major sub-schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Esoteric Buddhism in Japan known as Shingon, with a handful of minor subschools utilising lesser amounts of esoteric or tantric materials.

Coming from the concept of Vajyarana that " Everything " is Voidness, and thus in Vajrayana monks not only work with concepts of " Good "; but they also work with concepts of " Evil ".

In India, Buddhist monasteries gradually developed into centres of learning where philosophical principles were developed and debated ; this tradition is currently preserved by monastic universities of Vajrayana Buddhists, as well as religious schools and universities founded by religious orders across the Buddhist world.

Vajrayana is a complex and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice which evolved over several centuries.

The literature of Vajrayana is absent from the oldest Buddhist literature of the Pali Canon and the Agamas.

The basic position of Vajrayana is still the same as the early Buddhist position of not-self: there is nothing which is eternal.

Nalanda University in eastern India became a center for the development of Vajrayana theory, although it is likely that the university followed, rather than led, the early Tantric movement.

Vajrayana is firmly grounded in Mahayana-philosophy, especially Madhyamaka.

Vajrayana subscribes to the two truths doctrine of conventional and ultimate truths, which is present in all Buddhist tenet systems.

The two truths doctrine is a central concept in the Vajrayana path of practice and is the philosophical basis for its methods.

The goal of spiritual practice within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions is to become a Bodhisattva ( i. e. attainment of a state in which one will subsequently become a Buddha -- after some further reincarnation ), whereas the goal for Theravada practice is specific to become an arahant ( i. e. attain enlightenment with no intention of returning, not even as a Buddha ).

In the Vajrayana the " path of the fruit " is taken whereby the practitioner takes his or her innate Buddha-nature as the means of practice.

Experiencing ultimate truth is said to be the purpose of all the various tantric techniques practiced in the Vajrayana.

As with the Mahayana, motivation is a vital component of Vajrayana practice.

The Bodhisattva-path is an integral part of the Vajrayana, which teaches that all practices are to be undertaken with the motivation to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Many techniques are also commonly said to be secret, but some Vajrayana teachers have responded that secrecy itself is not important and only a side-effect of the reality that the techniques have no validity outside the teacher-student lineage.

Training in the " common paths " of Sutra ( including Lamrim ) are said to be the foundation for the " uncommon path " of Vajrayana.

Padmasambhava ); Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, (), Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighboring countries in the 8th century.

According to Jamgon Kongtrul, when Atiśa discovered the store of Sanskrit texts at Pekar Kordzoling, the library of Samye, " he said that the degree to which the Vajrayana had spread in Tibet was unparalleled, even in India.

In the Pañcakrama tantric tradition ascribed to ( the Vajrayana ) Nagarjuna, ānāpānasmṛti counting breaths is said to be sufficient to provoke an experience of vipaśyanā ( although it occurs in the context of " formal tantric practice of the completion stage in highest yogatantra ").

This brings him into conflict with not just Islam but also, sometimes, with old-fashioned Buddhism ..." Yet several well-known Vajrayana Buddhist lamas were married: Marpa the translator is said to have had nine wives ; others had romantic relationships, including the 6th Dalai Lama, and the teacher who brought Buddhism to Tibet, Padmasambhava, who had five Tantric consorts who were also his students.

Shakyamuni Buddha is said by Vajrayana Buddhists to have taught the Kalachakra tantra on request of King Suchandra of Shambhala ; the teachings are also said to be preserved in Shamballa.

The Vajrayana teacher Drupon Thinley Ningpo Rinpoche has said that as part of the five precepts which a layperson takes upon taking refuge, that although they must refrain from taking intoxicants, they may drink enough so as they do not become drunk.

sGam-po-pa is said to have given such Great Seal instructions sometimes not as secret Vajrayana precepts in connection with initiation and special yogic practices, but rather as a Sūtra-based Great Seal instruction, or even as a doctrine going beyond both Sūtra and Tantra.

Many techniques are also commonly said to be secret, but some Vajrayana teachers have responded that the secrecy itself is not important but only a side-effect of the reality that the techniques have no validity outside the teacher-student lineage.

Sogyal Rinpoche has said that he decided to make teaching in Bhutan a priority since it is the only remaining independent Vajrayana Buddhist country in the world.