Buddhism and Related Topics

Gautama Buddha

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Ascetic and spiritual teacher of South Asia who lived during the latter half of the first millennium BCE.

Seated Buddha from Tapa Shotor monastery in Hadda, Afghanistan, 2nd century CE

Ancient kingdoms and cities of India during the time of the Buddha (c. 500 BCE)

Inscription "The illumination of the Blessed Sakamuni" (Brahmi script: 𑀪𑀕𑀯𑀢𑁄 𑀲𑀓𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀺𑀦𑁄 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑁄, Bhagavato Sakamunino Bodho) on a relief showing the "empty" Illumination Throne of the Buddha in the early Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya. Bharhut, c. 100 BCE.

One of the earliest anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha, here surrounded by Brahma (left) and Śakra (right). Bimaran Casket, mid-1st century CE, British Museum.

Māyā miraculously giving birth to Siddhārtha. Sanskrit, palm-leaf manuscript. Nālandā, Bihar, India. Pāla period

The legendary Jataka collections depict the Buddha-to-be in a previous life prostrating before the past Buddha Dipankara, making a resolve to be a Buddha, and receiving a prediction of future Buddhahood.

Map showing Lumbini and other major Buddhist sites in India. Lumbini (present-day Nepal), is the birthplace of the Buddha, and is a holy place also for many non-Buddhists.

The Lumbini pillar contains an inscription stating that this is the Buddha's birthplace

The "Great Departure" of Siddhartha Gautama, surrounded by a halo, he is accompanied by numerous guards and devata who have come to pay homage; Gandhara, Kushan period

Prince Siddhartha shaves his hair and becomes a sramana. Borobudur, 8th century

The gilded "Emaciated Buddha statue" in Wat Suthat in Bangkok representing the stage of his asceticism

The Mahabodhi Tree at the Sri Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya

The Enlightenment Throne of the Buddha at Bodh Gaya, as recreated by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE.

Miracle of the Buddha walking on the River Nairañjanā. The Buddha is not visible (aniconism), only represented by a path on the water, and his empty throne bottom right. Sanchi.

Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath, India, site of the first teaching of the Buddha in which he taught the Four Noble Truths to his first five disciples

The chief disciples of the Buddha, Mogallana (chief in psychic power) and Sariputta (chief in wisdom).

The remains of a section of Jetavana Monastery, just outside of ancient Savatthi, in Uttar Pradesh.

Mahāprajāpatī, the first bhikkuni and Buddha's stepmother, ordains

This East Javanese relief depicts the Buddha in his final days, and Ānanda, his chief attendant.

Mahaparinirvana, Gandhara, 3rd or 4th century CE, gray schist

Mahaparinibbana scene, from the Ajanta caves

Buddha's cremation stupa, Kushinagar (Kushinara).

Piprahwa vase with relics of the Buddha. The inscription reads: ...salilanidhane Budhasa Bhagavate... (Brahmi script: ...𑀲𑀮𑀺𑀮𑀦𑀺𑀥𑀸𑀦𑁂 𑀩𑀼𑀥𑀲 𑀪𑀕𑀯𑀢𑁂...) "Relics of the Buddha Lord".

The Bodhisattva meets with Alara Kalama, Borobudur relief.

Gandharan Buddhist birchbark scroll fragments

Buddha meets a Brahmin, at the Indian Museum, Kolkata

Schist Buddha statue with the famed Ye Dharma Hetu dhāraṇī around the head, which was used as a common summary of Dependent Origination. It states: "Of those experiences that arise from a cause, The Tathāgata has said: 'this is their cause, And this is their cessation': This is what the Great Śramaṇa teaches."

Gandharan sculpture depicting the Buddha in the full lotus seated meditation posture, 2nd-3rd century CE

Buddha Statues from Gal Vihara. The Early Buddhist texts also mention meditation practice while standing and lying down.

The Buddha on a coin of Kushan ruler Kanishka I, c. 130 CE.

Buddhist monks from Nepal. According to the earliest sources, the Buddha looked like a typical shaved man from northeast India.

A Royal Couple Visits the Buddha, from railing of the Bharhut Stupa, Shunga dynasty, early 2nd century BC.

Adoration of the Diamond Throne and the Bodhi Tree, Bharhut.

Descent of the Buddha from the Trayastrimsa Heaven, Sanchi Stupa No. 1.

The Buddha's Miracle at Kapilavastu, Sanchi Stupa 1.

Bimbisara visiting the Buddha (represented as empty throne) at the Bamboo garden in Rajagriha

The great departure with riderless horse, Amaravati, 2nd century CE.

The Assault of Mara, Amaravati, 2nd century CE.

Isapur Buddha, one of the earliest physical depictions of the Buddha, c. 15 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Quintanilla |first1=Sonya Rhie |title=History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004155374 |pages=199–206, 204 for the exact date |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7Cb8IkZVSMC&pg=PA204}}</ref> Art of Mathura

The Buddha attended by Indra at Indrasala Cave, Mathura 50-100 CE.

Buddha Preaching in Tushita Heaven. Amaravati, Satavahana period, 2d century CE. Indian Museum, Calcutta.

Gandharan Buddha with Vajrapani-Herakles.

Birth of the Buddha, Kushan dynasty, late 2nd to early 3rd century CE.

The Infant Buddha Taking A Bath, Gandhara 2nd century CE.

Sarnath standing Buddha, 5th century CE.

Chinese Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas, Wei period, 536 CE.

The Shakyamuni Daibutsu Bronze, c. 609, Nara, Japan.

Amaravati style Buddha of Srivijaya period, Palembang, Indonesia, 7th century.

Korean Seokguram Cave Buddha, c. 774 CE.

Seated Buddha Vairocana flanked by Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani of Mendut temple, Central Java, Indonesia, early 9th century.

Buddha in the exposed stupa of Borobudur mandala, Central Java, Indonesia, c. 825.

Vairocana Buddha of Srivijaya style, Southern Thailand, 9th century.

Seated Buddha, Japan, Heian period, 9th－10th century.

Cambodian Buddha with Mucalinda Nāga, c. 1100 CE, Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia

Sakyamuni, Lao Tzu, and Confucius, c. from 1368 until 1644.

Shakyamuni Buddha with Avadana Legend Scenes, Tibetan, 19th century

Gautama statue, Shanyuan Temple, Liaoning Province, China.

Burmese style Buddha, Shwedagon pagoda, Yangon.

Large Gautama Buddha statue in Buddha Park of Ravangla.

He was the founder of Buddhism and is revered by Buddhists as a fully enlightened being who taught a path to Nirvana (lit.

Theravada

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Theravāda (Sinhala: ථේරවාද, Thai: เถรวาท) (lit.

The Ruwanwelisaya stupa, built by the Sri Lankan King Dutugemunu (c. 140 B.C.E.).

Gold Plates containing fragments of the Pali Tipitaka (5th century) found in Maunggan (a village near the city of Sriksetra).

Bagan, the capital of the Bagan Kingdom. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, more than 10,000 temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains.

A Burmese man meditates in Myanmar. The widespread practice of meditation by laypersons is a modern development in Theravāda.

Thai Forest teacher Ajahn Chah with Ajahn Sumedho (front right), Ajahn Pasanno (rear and left of Sumedho) and other monastics.

Global Vipassana Pagoda, Maharashtra, India. S.N. Goenka laid the foundation for the structure in 2000 and the pagoda opened in 2009. Regular meditation courses are held at the complex.

Pre-modern copies of the Tipiṭaka were preserved in Palm-leaf manuscripts, most of which have not survived the humid climate of South Asia and Southeast Asia.

A full modern set of the Tipiṭaka can fill many volumes (from 40 to over 50 volumes depending on the edition).

Buddhaghosa (right) (c. 5th century), shown here presenting three copies of his influential doctrinal compendium, the Visuddhimagga, to the elders of the Sri Lankan Mahavihara school.

Painting of Buddha's first sermon from Wat Chedi Liem in Thailand

Ledi Sayadaw, was one of the great Abhidhamma scholars of the 20th century as well as a teacher of meditation.

Sakka in Tavatimsa Heaven, Wat Yang Thong, Songkhla, Thailand.

A Burmese illustrated manuscript depicting Sumedha (the future Buddha Gautama) and Dīpankara Buddha.

A statue of the arahant Moggallana, who is identifiable by his dark (nila, i.e. blue/black) skin. He was one of the two most senior disciples of the Buddha and the foremost in psychic powers.

The Dhamma Wheel with eight spokes usually symbolizes the Noble Eightfold Path.

Theravādin monks meditating in Bodh Gaya (Bihar, India)

Ajahn Mun, a key figure in the founding of the Thai Forest Tradition, is widely considered to have been an Arahant in Thailand.

Circumambulation around a temple or a stupa is also a common devotional practice.

Thai monks on pilgrimage in their orange robes.

The ceremony walks with lighted candles in hand around a temple on Vesakha Puja in Uttaradit, Thailand.

A cave kuti (hut) in the Sri Lankan forest monastery Na Uyana Aranya.

Candidates for the Buddhist monkhood being ordained as monks in Thailand

A Buddhist Monk chants evening prayers inside a monastery located near the town of Kantharalak, Thailand.

Thai monks blessing the King of Thailand in Wat Nong Wong, Amphoe Sawankhalok, Sukhothai, Thailand.

Map showing the three major Buddhist divisions in Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, East and Southeast Asia.

"School of the Elders", Pali: 𑀣𑁂𑀭𑀯𑀸𑀤 Theravāda, literally “doctrine of the elders” ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school.

An illustration in a manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra from Nalanda, depicting the bodhisattva Maitreya, an important figure in Mahāyāna.

Mahayana

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The Five Tathāgatas in Shishoin Temple (Tokyo). A unique feature of Mahāyāna is the belief that there are multiple Buddhas which are currently teaching the Dharma.

Mahāyāna Buddhist triad, including Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Buddha, and Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. 2nd–3rd century CE, Gandhāra

Seated Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva. Gandharan, from Loriyan Tangai. Kushan period, 1st – 3rd century CE. Indian Museum, Calcutta.

Cave complex associated with the Mahāsāṃghika sect. Karla Caves, Mahārāṣtra, India

Ruins of the Nalanda Mahavihara (Great Monastery) in Bihar, a major center for the study of Mahāyāna Buddhism from the fifth century CE to c. 1200 CE.

Buddhist expansion in Asia, from Buddhist heartland in northern India (dark orange) starting 5th century BCE, to Buddhist majority realm (orange), and historical extent of Buddhism influences (yellow). Mahāyāna (red arrow), Theravāda (green arrow), and Tantric-Vajrayāna (blue arrow). The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".

The use of mandalas was one new feature of Tantric Buddhism, which also adopted new deities such as Chakrasamvara (pictured).

A Ming bronze of the Buddha Mahāvairocana which depicts his body as being composed of numerous other Buddhas.

Tibetan depiction of Buddha Amitāyus in his Pure Land of Sukhavati.

Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Ajaṇṭā Caves, Maharashtra, India.

Illustrated Korean manuscript of the Lotus Sutra, Goryeo Dynasty, c. 1340. The three carts at the top which are symbolic of the three vehicles.

Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara) with multiple arms symbolizing upaya and great compassion, Leshan, China.

The Lotus, especially the puṇḍarīka (white lotus), is used in Mahāyāna to symbolize the nature of bodhisattvas. The lotus is rooted in the earthly mud and yet flowers above the water in the open air. Similarly, the bodhisattva lives in the world but remains unstained by it.

A statue of the Mahāyāna philosopher Nagarjuna, founder of the Madhyamaka school. Considered by some to be an Arya (noble) bodhisattva or even the "second Buddha".

A Kamakura period reliquary topped with a cintamani (wish fulfilling jewel). Buddha nature texts often use the metaphor of a jewel (i.e. buddha-nature) which all beings have but are unaware of.

The Japanese monk Kūya reciting the nembutsu, depicted as six small Amida Buddha figures.

Zen master Bodhidharma meditating, Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1887.

An 18th century Mongolian miniature which depicts a monk generating a tantric visualization.

Astasahasrika Prajñaparamita Manuscript. Prajñaparamita and Scenes from the Buddha's Life (top), Maitreya and Scenes from the Buddha's Life (bottom), c. 1075

Frontispiece of the Chinese Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the oldest known dated printed book in the world.

Map showing the three major Buddhist divisions.

The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso with Desmond Tutu in 2004. Due to his charisma, the Dalai Lama has become the international face of contemporary Tibetan Buddhism.

Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices.

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.

Bodhisattva

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Probable early image of a bodhisattva (Bimaran casket, 50 CE).

Gandharan relief depicting the bodhisattva (future Gautama Buddha) taking a vow at the foot of Dipankara Buddha, Art Institute of Chicago.

Modern depiction of the bodhisattva resolution (praṇidhāna) in front of Dipankara.

6th century painting of Maitreya, Kizil Caves, Cave 224

Gilded bronze statue of Tara, Sri Lanka, 8th century CE.

Bronze statue of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Sri Lanka, c. 750 CE.

An altar depicting Burmese Buddhist weizzas. In this esoteric tradition, weizzas consider themselves to be bodhisattvas.

Greco-Buddhist standing Maitreya (3rd century), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greco-Buddhist Vajrapāni (the protector of the Buddha) resembling Heracles, second-century.

Bengali Sculpture of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, 11th century

Wood carving of Avalokiteśvara. Liao China, 907–1125

Twenty-five Bodhisattvas Descending from Heaven. Japanese painting, c. undefined1300

Bodhisattva Prajñaparamita, a female personification of the perfection of wisdom, Singhasari period, East Java, Indonesia, 13th century

Mural of bodhisattva Padmapani in Ajanta Caves. India, 5th century

Green Tara attended by White Tara and Bhrikuti, India, Madhya Pradesh, Sirpur, c. 8th century.

Tibetan painting of Vajrapani, 19th-century

Japanese statue of Kannon (Guanyin, a popular female form of Avalokiteshvara in East Asia)

Mural painting of Manjushri in tantric union with his consort, the bodhisattva Sarasvati (also considered to be a form of Tara).

Green Tara and her devotees, Folio from a Bengali manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines), MET.

Maitreya, 13th century, Kamakura period, Tokyo National Museum, Important Cultural Property of Japan.

Statue of Ksitigarbha, the background art depicts his pure land and attendant bodhisattvas. From a Buddhist temple in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Statue of Guanyin's 'thousand arms' form, the arms symbolize all the skillful means employed by Guanyin to help sentient beings.

Statue of Samantabhadra bodhisattva at Mount Emei

Standing bodhisattva. Gandhāra, 2nd–3rd century.

Bodhisattva Vajrapani. Mendut near Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia. Sailendran art c. 8th century.

The golden Srivijayan Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, Muarabulian, Jambi, Indonesia c. 11th century.

Thousand-armed Bodhisattva, Sanjūsangen-dō, Japan. 13th century.

A rock carving of Avalokiteshvara, Weligama, Sri Lanka

Silver Manjushri, Sailendra, early 9th century Central Java, National Museum.

Bodhisattva Manjushri as Tikshna-Manjushri (Minjie Wenshu), China

Wooden gilded statue of Avalokiteśvara, Song Dynasty (960-1279)

Bodhisattva painting at Dun Huang in the "1000 Buddha cave" (cave 17).

Padmapani Lokeshvara, Nepal, 11th century

Standing Bodhisattva, probably Maitreya, Gandhara

Samantabhadra, Yulin Cave 3, Western Xia

White Avalokiteshvara (Amoghapasha Lokeshvara), 14th century, Nepal.

Padmapani, India, Gandharan period, 200s AD, schist

Gandharan sculpture, head of a bodhisattva

Maitreya, Bihar, Gaya District, 11th century

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī)) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.

Pali

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Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent.

19th century Burmese Kammavācā (confession for Buddhist monks), written in Pali on gilded palm leaf

It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist Pāli Canon or Tipiṭaka as well as the sacred language of Theravāda Buddhism.

Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century. The red horizontal and vertical lines mark low and high pitch changes for chanting.

Sanskrit

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Classical language of South Asia that belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages.

A 17th-century birch bark manuscript of Pāṇini's grammar treatise from Kashmir

An early use of the word for "Sanskrit" in Late Brahmi script (also called Gupta script): Gupta ashoka sam.jpgGupta ashoka skrr.jpgGupta ashoka t.svg Saṃ-skṛ-ta
Mandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman-Vishnuvardhana, 532 CE.

Sanskrit's link to the Prakrit languages and other Indo-European languages

The Spitzer Manuscript is dated to about the 2nd century CE (above: folio 383 fragment). Discovered in the Kizil Caves, near the northern branch of the Central Asian Silk Route in northwest China, it is the oldest Sanskrit philosophical manuscript known so far.

A 5th-century Sanskrit inscription discovered in Java, Indonesia—one of the earliest in southeast Asia after the Mulavarman inscription discovered in Kutai, eastern Borneo. The Ciaruteun inscription combines two writing scripts and compares the king to the Hindu god Vishnu. It provides a terminus ad quem to the presence of Hinduism in the Indonesian islands. The oldest southeast Asian Sanskrit inscription—called the Vo Canh inscription—so far discovered is near Nha Trang, Vietnam, and it is dated to the late 2nd century to early 3rd century CE.

Sanskrit language's historical presence has been attested in many countries. The evidence includes manuscript pages and inscriptions discovered in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. These have been dated between 300 and 1800 CE.

One of the oldest surviving Sanskrit manuscript pages in Gupta script (c. 828 CE), discovered in Nepal

One of the oldest Hindu Sanskrit inscriptions, the broken pieces of this early-1st-century BCE Hathibada Brahmi Inscription were discovered in Rajasthan. It is a dedication to deities Vāsudeva-Samkarshana (Krishna-Balarama) and mentions a stone temple.

Sanskrit in modern Indian and other Brahmi scripts: May Śiva bless those who take delight in the language of the gods. (Kālidāsa)

One of the earliest known Sanskrit inscriptions in Tamil Grantha script at a rock-cut Hindu Trimurti temple (Mandakapattu, c. 615 CE)

The ancient Yūpa inscription (one of the earliest and oldest Sanskrit texts written in ancient Indonesia) dating back to the 4th century CE written by Brahmins under the rule of King Mulavarman of the Kutai Martadipura Kingdom located in eastern Borneo

Sanskrit festival at Pramati Hillview Academy, Mysore, India

Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism.

Aniconic carving representing the final nirvana of a Buddha at Sanchi.

Nirvana (Buddhism)

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Nirvana (Sanskrit: निर्वाण, '; Pali: ') is "blowing out" or "quenching" of the activities of the worldly mind and its related suffering.

The Bhavachakra, an illustration of the cycle of rebirth, with the three poisons at the hub of the wheel.

In the cosmology of Jainism, another sramana tradition like Buddhism, liberated beings abide in an actual place (loka) associated with nirvana. Some scholars have argued that originally, Buddhists held a similar view.

Buddhist sculpture of the final nirvana of the Buddha in greco-buddhist Gandharan style from Loriyan Tangai.

Khmer traditional mural painting depicts Gautama Buddha entering parinirvana, Dharma assembly pavilion, Wat Botum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Garbhadhatu mandala of the Mahavairocana Tantra representing multiple manifestations of the Dharmakaya, the Buddha Vairocana.

Nirvana is the goal of the Buddhist path, and marks the soteriological release from worldly suffering and rebirths in saṃsāra.

A vajra and bell (ghanta), which are classic ritual symbols of Vajrayāna

Vajrayana

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Mahasiddhas, Palpung monastery. Note the figure of the great adept Putalipa at center, seated in a cave and gazing at an image of the meditational deity Samvara and the figure at the bottom left holding a skull-staff (khaṭvāṅga) and a flaying knife (kartika)

Diamond Realm mandala, based on the tantric Vajrasekhara Sutra, and symbolizing the final realization of Vairocana Buddha in Shingon.

Naked tantrikas dancing and eating from skull cups (kapalas), closeup of a Chakrasamvara mandala

Vajrayana adopted deities such as Bhairava, known as Yamantaka in Tibetan Buddhism.

The central deity of the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra, which according to scholars like David B. Gray and Alexis Sanderson, appropriated numerous elements from nondual Shaiva Tantra

The 9th-century Agusan image, a holy Vajrayana Buddhist relic from the Philippines.

Tangut Auspicious Tantra of All-Reaching Union.

Manjushri, the bodhisattva associated with prajñā.

Monks attending the 2003 Kalachakra empowerment in Bodhgaya, India. Some empowerment ceremonies can include large numbers of initiates.

Tibetan Chakrasamvara statue in Yab-Yum union with his consort Vajravārāhī

Mani stones, stones inscribed with the "om mani padme hum" mantra

A Japanese Handscroll depicting various mudras, 11th–12th century.

A Japanese depiction of the Amida Triad in Seed Syllable form (Siddham Script). Visualizing deities in the form of seed syllables is a common Vajrayana meditation. In Shingon, one of the most common practices is Ajikan (阿字觀), meditating on the syllable A.

A Tibetan depiction of the perfection stage practices of tummo (Skt. candali, inner heat) and phowa (transference of consciousness).

A Newari Buddhist mandala used for Guru Puja, Nepal, 19th century, gilt copper inlaid with semiprecious stones.

Dagchen Rinpoche's hand holds a vajra drawing lines that close the Hevajra Mandala, after the empowerment, Tharlam Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Bronze vajras and bell from Itsukushima, Japan

Chöd ritual, note the use of Damaru drum and hand-bell, as well as the Kangling (thighbone trumpet).

Three leaves from a manuscript of the Vajrāvalī, a ritual compendium compiled by Abhayakaragupta, abbot of the Vikramashila monastery around 1100 CE.

Map showing the dominant Buddhist tradition throughout Asia, Vajrayana (in the form of Tibetan Buddhism) dominates the Himalayan regions and in the Mongolian regions.

The Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī engraved on a stele. Temple Fo Ding Shan Chao Sheng in Sanyi Township, Taiwan. Erected in June 2005.

Portrait of Kobo Daishi (Kukai) holding a vajra and a mala, 14th century, Art Institute of Chicago.

A painting by G.B. Hooijer (c. 1916–1919) reconstructing the scene of Borobudur during its heyday

Vajrayāna (वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle" ) along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism are names referring to Buddhist traditions associated with Tantra and "Secret Mantra", which developed in the medieval Indian subcontinent and spread to Tibet, Nepal, East Asia, Mongolia and other Himalayan states.