Portal:Vajrayana Buddhism
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 Vajrayāna Buddhism, also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayana, Mantrayana, Mantranaya, Esoteric Buddhism, Diamond Vehicle (Chinese: 金剛乘, jingangcheng, Japanese: 金剛乗, kongōjō) although these terms are not always regarded as equivalent, is an extension of Mahayana Buddhism consisting of differences in the adoption of additional techniques (upaya, or 'skillful means') rather than in philosophy. Thus, before terms such as Vajrayāna or Tantrayāna came into use, scholar-monks such as Buddhaguhya (fl. mid-8th CE) state that Mahāyāna is subdivided into two categories: pāramitā-yana (the "Perfection Method") and mantra-yana (the "Mantra Method"). Some of these upāya are esoteric practices which must be initiated and transmitted only through a skilled spiritual teacher. The Vajrayana is often viewed as the third major 'vehicle' (Yana) of Buddhism, alongside the Theravada and Mahayana. Tantra (Sanskrit: तन्त्र "weave" denoting continuity[1]), tantricism or tantrism is any of several esoteric traditions rooted in the religions of India. It exists in Hindu, Bönpo, Buddhist, and Jain forms. Tantra in its various forms has existed in South Asia, China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia and Mongolia.[2] David Gordon White, while cautioning against attempting a rigorous definition of tantra, offers the following working definition:
Kūkai (空海) or also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師), 774–835 CE was a Japanese monk, scholar, poet, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Kūkai is famous as a calligrapher (see Shodo), engineer, and is said to have invented kana, the syllabary in which, in combination with Chinese characters (Kanji) the Japanese language is written (although this claim has not been proven). His religious writing, some fifty works, expound the esoteric Shingon doctrine, of which the major ones have been translated into English by Yoshito Hakeda (see references below). Kūkai is also said to have written the iroha, one of the most famous poems in Japanese, which uses every phonetic kana syllable.
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