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.

They are a type of eccentric yogi in both Hinduism and Vajrayana Buddhism.

Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakinis occur most notably in Vajrayana Buddhism and play a particular role in Tibetan Buddhism.

Spirits of place are explicitly recognized by some of the worlds main religions: Shinto has its Kami which may incorporate spirits of place ; Christianity has spirits of place in the Angelic Choirs of Dominions and Principalities, Hinduism, Vajrayana and Bonpo traditions.

In Hinduism, Mount Kailash is identified with the mythical Mount Meru and regarded as the home of Shiva ; in Vajrayana Buddhism, Mount Kailash is recognized as the most sacred place where all the dragon currents converge and is regarded as the gateway to Shambhala.

Although the first tantric Buddhist texts appeared in India in the 3rd century and continued to appear until the 12th century, scholars such as Hirakawa Akira believe that the Vajrayana probably came into existence in the 6th or 7th century, while the term Vajrayana first came into evidence in the 8th century.

Maha Ati is a term coined by Chögyam Trungpa, a master of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.

bde ' byung ) in Vajrayana Buddhism ( the religion of Tibet ) is a Sanskrit term meaning " place of peace / tranquility / happiness ".

Early Vajrayana that was transmitted from India to Tibet may be differentiated by the specific term ' Mantrayana ' ().

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.

According to the Vajrayana tradition, at certain times the bodymind is in a very subtle state which can be used by advanced practitioners to transform the mindstream.

Unlike mandalas used in Vajrayana Buddhism, it is not used as an object of meditation or for esoteric ritual.

In Tantric Buddhism ( Vajrayana ) the vajra and ghanta ( bell ) are used in many rites by a lama or any Vajrayana practitioner of sadhanas.

There are several other mantras for the Medicine Buddha as well that are used in different schools of Vajrayana Buddhism.

In the Vajrayana tradition, chanting is also used as an invocative ritual in order to set one's mind on a deity, Tantric ceremony, mandala, or particular concept one wishes to further in themselves.

Bumpa, a ritual object, is one of the Ashtamangala, used for storing sacred water sometimes, symbolizing wisdom and long life in Vajrayana Buddhism .< ref name =" brsk ">< ref name =" skws ">

Tara is a tantric meditation deity whose practice is used by practitioners of the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism to develop certain inner qualities and understand outer, inner and secret teachings about compassion and emptiness.

This sharp and piercing energy is what is used to practice and out of the many infinite, endless Vajrayana methods this happens to be one of most important methods.

The script is also used in most of the Mahayana and Vajrayana monasteries.

There are many philosophical viewpoints, but unique to the Vajrayana perspective is the expression ( by meditators ) of emptiness in experiential language, as opposed to the language of negation used by scholars to undo any conceptual fixation that would stand in the way of a correct understanding of emptiness.