
In the book, "The World of Tibetan Buddhism", the Dalai Lama describes a mandala: “This is the celestial mansion, the pure residence of the deity.” The mandalas are symbolic representations of sacred enclosures, sacred architecture that house and contain the uncontainable essence of a yidam. Representations of the deity, such as a statues, paintings (Tibetan:" thangka"), or mandalas, are often employed as an aid to visualization in both the Generation Stage (Tibetan: "Kye-rim") and the Completion Stage (Tibetan: " Dzog-rim") of Anuttarayoga Tantra. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, "In brief, the body of a Buddha is attained through meditating on it". Robert Beer describes the process: Deity Yoga employs highly refined techniques of creative imagination, visualisation, and photism in order to self-identify with the divine form and qualities of a particular deity as the union of method or skilful means and wisdom. This visualization method undermines a habitual belief that views of reality and self are solid and fixed, enabling the practitioner to purify spiritual obscurations (Sanskrit: " klesha") and to practice compassion and wisdom simultaneously.


The yidam generally appears in a mandala and the practitioner visualizes themself and their environment as the yidam and mandala of their Deity Yoga practice. The purpose of Deity yoga is to bring the meditator to the realization that the deity and the practitioner are in essence the same, non-dual. A mature yogi 'dies' in the meditation and comes back again, experiencing all the levels of mind.ĭeity yoga (Tibetan: "lha'i rnal 'byor" Sanskrit: "Devata-yoga") is the fundamental Vajrayana practice, generally involving a sadhana practice in which the practitioner visualizes themselves as the meditation Buddha or yidam of the sadhana.
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Such teachings describe certain aspects of the mind and how to attain them, realize them by certain practices that can be dangerous to one's health if not prepared thoroughly, as such states of mind are normally experienced at the time of death. Otherwise they might have a negative effect. These teachings are only given personally from teacher to student and are secret, because they demand a certain maturity of the student. *of high importance are the oral transmissions given by a tantric master. *importance of a guru-disciple relationship, for example by ritual 'empowerments' or 'initiations' wherein the student obtains permission to practise a particular tantra. *use of specialized rituals rooted in Vajrayana cosmology and beliefs *the use of ritual objects such as the vajra and bell ( ghanta), phurba, hand drum ( damaru), and many other symbolic tools and musical instruments Seed syllables in Tibetan and Lendza are also used. *use of an extensive vocabulary of visual aids, such as cosmic mandala diagrams which teach and map pathways to spiritual enlightenment. *use of various yoga techniques such as Trul Khor, including breath control ( Pranayama), yantra and the use of special hand positions ( mudras) *repetition of special ritual phrases ( mantras), Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama says: Tantra is limited to persons whose compassion is so great that they cannot bear to spend unnecessary time in attaining Buddhahood, as they want to be a supreme source of help and happiness for others quickly. Tantric techniques may initially appear to consist of ritualistic nonsense however, it should only be practiced on the basis of a thorough understanding of Buddhist philosophy and strictly following the traditions.
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It is not even allowed to explain the full symbolism and psychology of the practice to the uninitiated, which can easily lead to misunderstanding and dismissal by the uninitiated. Secrecy is a cornerstone of tantric Buddhism, simply to avoid harming oneself and others by practicing without proper guidance. In order to achieve this self-identification with the yidam, much symbolism, ritual and visualization is used in Buddhist tantric techniques. The practitioner focusses on and identifies with the resultant buddha-form or 'meditation deity', the " yidam" (Tibetan) or (Sanskrit) 'ishtadevata'. The most important aspect of the tantric path is to 'use the result as the Path' which means that rather than placing full enlightenment as a goal far away in the future, one identifies with the indivisible three vajras that is, the enlightened body, speech and mind of a Buddha.

Vajrayana partially relies on various tantric techniques rooted in scriptures such as tantras and various tantric commentaries and treatises. Tantra techniques in Vajrayana Buddhism are techniques used to attain Buddhahood.
