''Yidam'' is a type of

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

associated with tantric or

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

said to be manifestations of

Buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (; Pali, Sanskrit: 𑀩𑀼𑀤𑁆𑀥, बुद्ध), "awakened one", is a title for those who are awake, and have attained nirvana and Buddhahood through their own efforts and insight, without a teacher to point out ...

or enlightened mind. During personal meditation (''sādhana'') practice, the

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...

identifies their own form, attributes and mind with those of a yidam for the purpose of transformation. Yidam is sometimes translated by the terms "meditational deity" or "

tutelary deity A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...

". Examples of yidams include the meditation deities Chakrasamvara,

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The ta ...

Hevajra Hevajra (Tibetan: kye'i rdo rje / kye rdo rje; Chinese: 喜金剛 Xǐ jīngāng / 呼金剛 Hū jīngāng;) is one of the main yidams (enlightened beings) in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā (Tibetan: bdag med ...

Yamantaka Yamāntaka ( sa, यमान्तक Yamāntaka) or Vajrabhairava (; ; ko, 대위덕명왕 ''Daewideok-myeongwang''; ja, 大威徳明王 ''Daiitoku-myōō''; mn, Эрлэгийн Жаргагчи ''Erlig-jin Jarghagchi'') is the "destroyer of ...

, and

Vajrayogini Vajrayoginī ( sa, italic=yes, Vajrayoginī वज्रयोगिनी; , Dorjé Neljorma; mn, Огторгуйд Одогч, Нархажид, ) is a Tantric Buddhist female Buddha and a . The ''Vajrayogini'' cult dates back to the tenth a ...

, all of whom have a distinctive iconography,

mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

, rites of invocation and practice. In Vajrayana, the yidam is one of the

three roots In Buddhism, the Three Jewels, Triple Gem, or Three Refuges are the supports in which a Buddhist takes refuge by means of a prayer or recitation at the beginning of the day or of a practice session. These Three Jewels are: * The Buddha, the fu ...

of the inner refuge formula and is also the key element of

deity yoga The fundamental practice of Vajrayana and Tibetan tantra is deity yoga (''devatayoga''), meditation on a chosen deity or "cherished divinity" (Skt. ''Iṣṭa-devatā,'' Tib. ''yidam''), which involves the recitation of mantras, prayers and vi ...

since the 'deity' in the

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

is the yidam.

Etymology

Yidam is said to be a contraction of Tib. ''yid-kyi-dam-tshig'', meaning "

samaya The samaya (, Japanese and , J: ''sanmaya-kai'', C: ''Sān mè yē jiè''), is a set of vows or precepts given to initiates of an esoteric Vajrayana Buddhist order as part of the abhiṣeka (empowerment or initiation) ceremony that creates a bon ...

of mind" or in other words, the state of being indestructibly bonded with the inherently pure and liberated nature of mind. This is said to be the act that balances energies coursing within the pranic ida and pingala channels in the subtle bodies of both participants. The practitioner focuses on and identifies with the resultant Buddha-form or 'meditation deity', the yidam (Tibetan) associated with IDA channel. The

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word or a compound of ''iṣṭa'' (desired, liked, reverenced) + ''devatā'' (a

or divine being) is a term associated with yidam in many popular books on Buddhist Tantra but has not been attested in any Buddhist tantric text in Sanskrit.

Three Roots

The yidam appears as one of the

Three Roots In Buddhism, the Three Jewels, Triple Gem, or Three Refuges are the supports in which a Buddhist takes refuge by means of a prayer or recitation at the beginning of the day or of a practice session. These Three Jewels are: * The Buddha, the fu ...

in the

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

'Inner' refuge formulation. The

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of the yidam may be 'peaceful', 'wrathful' (Tibetan ''tro wa'') or 'neither peaceful or wrathful' (Tibetan:'' shi ma tro''), depending on the practitioner's own nature. The yidam represents awakening and so its appearance reflects whatever is required by the practitioner in order to awaken. The guru will guide the student as to which yidam is appropriate for them and then

initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

into the

of the Ishta-deva is given by the

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

, so that

practices can be undertaken. In essence, the

mindstream Mindstream (''citta-santāna'') in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum (Sanskrit: ''saṃtāna'') of sense impressions and mental phenomena, which is also described as continuing from one life to another. Definition ' (Sanskri ...

of the guru and the yidam are indivisible. The yidam is considered to be the root of success in the practice.

In East Asian Buddhism

The Vajrayana traditions of China, Korea and Japan, while smaller and less prominent than Indo-Tibetan tantric Buddhism, are characterized in part by the utilization of yidams in meditation, though they use their own terms. One prominent ishta-devata in East Asian Vajrayana is Marici (Ch: ''Molichitian'', Jp: ''Marishi-ten''). In the

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

tradition of Japan, prominent yidam include the "five mysteries of Vajrasattva," which are

Vajrasattva Vajrasattva ( sa, वज्रसत्त्व, Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ། ''Dorje Sempa'', short form is རྡོར་སེམས། ''Dorsem'', Монгол: Доржсэмбэ) is a bodhisattva in the Maha ...

(Jp. ''Kongosatta'' "金剛薩埵"), Surata / Ishta-vajrinī (Jp. ''Yoku-kongonyo'' "慾金剛女"), Kelikilā-vajrinī (Jp. ''Shoku-kongonyo'' "触金剛女"), Kāmā / Rāga-vajrinī (Jp. ''Ai-kongonyo'' "愛金剛女"), and Kāmesvarā / Mana-vajrinī (Jp. ''Man-kongonyo'' "慢金剛女").''Tantric Buddhism in East Asia'' by Richard Payne, Wisdom Publications: 2005. .

In Nepalese Newar Buddhism

The principal yidam in the

Newar Newar (; new, नेवार, endonym: Newa; new, नेवा, Pracalit script:) or Nepami, are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisatio ...

Vajrayana tradition of Nepal are Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi.Dina Bangdel, "Tantra in Nepal," ''The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art'' Serindia Publications: 2003. , p. 32. In that tradition, three components are essential to a temple complex: a main shrine symbolizing

Svayambhu Mahachaitya Swayambhu ( sa, स्वयंभू) is a Sanskrit word that means "self-manifested", "self-existing", or "that is created by its own accord". Often, the word swayambhu is used to describe a self-manifested image of a deity, which was not made ...

; an exoteric shrine featuring

Buddha Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

and other buddhas and bodhisattvas; and an esoteric shrine dedicated to the yidam, to which only initiates may be admitted.

Working definition

According to ''The Tonglen and Mind Training Site'' which discusses

Tonglen Tonglen (, or tonglen) is Tibetan for 'giving and taking' (or sending and receiving), and refers to a meditation practice found in Tibetan Buddhism. Tong means "giving or sending", and len means "receiving or taking". Tonglen is also known as exc ...

and

Ngöndro In Tibetan Buddhism, Ngöndro (, sa, pūrvaka) refers to the preliminary, preparatory or foundational practices or disciplines (Sanskrit: sādhanā) common to all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and also to Bon. They precede deity yoga. The pre ...

, Yidam is:

Exegesis

During the (meditation) practice of the

generation stage The fundamental practice of Vajrayana and Tibetan tantric practice, Tibetan tantra is deity yoga (''devatayoga''), meditation on a chosen deity or "cherished divinity" (Skt. ''Iṣṭa-devatā,'' Tib. ''yidam''), which involves the recitation o ...

, a practitioner ( sadhaka) establishes a strong familiarity with the Ishta-deva (an enlightened being) by means of visualization and a high level of concentration. During the practice of the

completion stage The fundamental practice of Vajrayana and Tibetan tantra is deity yoga (''devatayoga''), meditation on a chosen deity or "cherished divinity" (Skt. ''Iṣṭa-devatā,'' Tib. ''yidam''), which involves the recitation of mantras, prayers and vi ...

, a practitioner focuses on methods to actualize the transformation of one's own mindstream and body into the meditation deity by meditation and yogic techniques of energy-control such as

kundalini In Hinduism, Kundalini ( sa, कुण्डलिनी, translit=kuṇḍalinī, translit-std=IAST, lit=coiled snake, ) is a form of divine feminine energy (or ''Shakti'') believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the ''muladhara'' ...

(

tummo In Tibetan Buddhism, ''tummo'' (; sa, चण्डाली, caṇḍālī) is the fierce goddess of heat and passion. Tummo is found in the Mahasiddha Krishnacarya and the ''Hevajra Tantra'' texts. Tummo is also a tantric practice for inner ...

in Tibetan). Through these complementary disciplines of generation and completion one increasingly perceives the pervasive

Buddha nature Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...

. Judith Simmer-Brown summarises: Berzin (1997: unpaginated) in discussing Buddhist refuge commitment and

bodhisattva vows The Bodhisattva vow is a vow (Sanskrit: ''praṇidhāna,'' lit. aspiration or resolution) taken by some Mahāyāna Buddhists to achieve full buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. One who has taken the vow is nominally known as a bodhis ...

frames a caution to sadhana: In the

practices of Tibetan Buddhism, 'safe direction', or ' refuge' is undertaken through the

, the practitioner relying on an Ishta-deva in

as a means of becoming a

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

Common yidams

Some common yidams include

Hayagriva Hayagriva, also spelled Hayagreeva ( sa, हयग्रीव IAST , ), is a Hindu deity, the horse-headed avatar of Vishnu. The purpose of this incarnation was to slay a danava also named Hayagriva (A descendant of Kashyapa and Danu), who ...

Vajrakilaya In Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrakilaya (Skt. ''Vajrakīlaya''; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕུར་པ་, ''Dorje Phurba'', Wyl. ''rdo rje phur pa'') or Vajrakumara (Skt. ''Vajrakumāra''; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་གཞོན་ནུ་, '' ...

(Dorje

Phurba The ''phurba'' (; alternate transliterations: ''phurpa'', ''phurbu'', ''purbha'', or ''phurpu'') or ''kīla'' (Sanskrit Devanagari: कील; IAST: kīla) is a three-sided peg, stake, knife, or nail-like ritual implement traditionally associate ...

), Samputa, Guhyasamaja,

, Kurukulla, Cakrasamvara,

, and

. Also, other enlightened beings such as the regular forms of the Buddhas,

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...

, certain

Dharmapala A ''dharmapāla'' (, , ja, 達磨波羅, 護法善神, 護法神, 諸天善神, 諸天鬼神, 諸天善神諸大眷屬) is a type of wrathful god in Buddhism. The name means "''dharma'' protector" in Sanskrit, and the ''dharmapālas'' are als ...

Dakini A ḍākinī ( sa, डाकिनी; ; mn, хандарма; ; alternatively 荼枳尼, ; 荼吉尼, ; or 吒枳尼, ; Japanese: 荼枳尼 / 吒枳尼 / 荼吉尼, ''dakini'') is a type of female spirit, goddess, or demon in Hinduism and Bud ...

s, Wealth Deities, and yab-yum representations, among others, can also be practiced as a yidam. Avalokiteshvara, Tara,

Manjusri Mañjuśrī (Sanskrit: मञ्जुश्री) is a ''bodhisattva'' associated with '' prajñā'' (wisdom) in Mahāyāna Buddhism. His name means "Gentle Glory" in Sanskrit. Mañjuśrī is also known by the fuller name of Mañjuśrīkumārab ...

and consort

Nairatmya Nairātmyā or Dagmema () is a female buddha, the consort of Hevajra in the Hevajra-tantra. The name means "ego-less woman". References See also * Nairatmya - Concept in Buddhism * Sitatapatra * Narodakini *Saraswati *Queen Maya *Hariti *Ya ...

Heruka :''Heruka is also a name for the deity of the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra.'' ''Heruka'' (Sanskrit; Tibetan: ), is the name of a category of wrathful deities, enlightened beings in Vajrayana Buddhism that adopt a fierce countenance to benefit sentient ...

-Chakrasamvara and consort Vajravarahi, etc. are frequently chosen as yidams, but any deity of the tantric pantheon may be adopted as such. The yidam is used as a means or a goal of transformation towards full enlightenment. According to certain traditions, the Ishtadevas are considered as the emanation of the adept's own

mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

Notes

External links

Yidam Deities in Vajrayana

Yidams - the Source of Accomplishments
{{Buddhism topics Vajrayana practices Anthropology of religion Tutelary deities