Esoteric transmission

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Esoteric transmission (initiation) is a technique used by Vajrayana Buddhists to attain accelerated Buddhahood. This conspicuous aspect of Vajrayana Buddhism is esoteric. In this context esoteric means that the transmission of certain accelerating factors only occurs directly from teacher to student during an initiation and cannot be simply learned from a book. 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. As these techniques are said to be highly effective, when not practiced properly, the practitioner can harm him/herself physically and mentally. In order to avoid these kind of dangers, the practice is kept 'secret' outside the teacher/student relationship.^{[citation needed]} The esoteric aspects of Vajrayana Buddhism results in several more names for the school: Secret Buddhism, Esoteric Mahayana, and Esoteric Buddhism (the most common name in Japan).

The esoteric transmission framework can take varying forms. The Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism uses a method called Dzogchen. Other Tibetan Kagyu schools and the Shingon school in Japan use an alternative method called Mahamudra.