Vajrayāna Buddhism: The Tantric Path of Pure Perception
Vajrayāna Buddhism, often called the Diamond Way, is one of the most beautiful and transformative paths within Buddhism. It’s known as a Tantric path because it works with energy, ritual and perception in ways that are direct, embodied and sometimes even wild.
The word Vajrayāna comes from Sanskrit:
vajra means both diamond and thunderbolt. Diamond for its indestructible purity. Thunderbolt for its sudden, lightning-like power to cut through illusion.
yāna means vehicle or path.
So Vajrayāna can also be understood as the Diamond Vehicle, the indestructible way of awakening, or the Thunderbolt Path, the swift and direct route to realisation. Both translations capture its essence: a path that is luminous, unbreakable and capable of awakening practitioners swiftly when undertaken with devotion and skill.
It arose in India around the 6th–7th century CE, branching out from Mahāyāna Buddhism’s teachings on compassion and emptiness and layering in Tantric methods like mantra, visualisation, deity yoga and subtle-body practices. From there it spread into Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia and even Japan (as Shingon Buddhism). Today it’s still alive in the Himalayan regions and through Tibetan lineages now practised all over the world.
What makes Vajrayāna unique is its view: enlightenment isn’t far away. It isn’t something we chase for lifetimes. It’s here, within this very body and mind.
Buddhist Tantra vs Hindu Tantra
Because the word Tantra shows up in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions, people don’t realise the distinctions between them. While they share tools—like mantra, ritual and working with subtle energy—their frameworks and aims are different.
Hindu Tantra is rooted in Śaiva and Śākta traditions. Its goal is union with Śiva (pure consciousness) and Śakti (creative energy), recognising all reality as the play of these divine forces.
Buddhist Tantra (Vajrayāna) is rooted in the Buddha’s teachings. The focus is awakening to Buddha nature—the innate, luminous essence present in all beings—and using that realisation for the benefit of all.
So where Hindu Tantra leans on divine union, Buddhist Tantra leans on bodhicitta (the wish to awaken for all beings), śūnyatā (emptiness) and transforming everyday perception into pure perception.
This distinction matters because it shows why Vajrayāna is called the Buddhist Tantric Path: it is Tantra, yes—but always held within the frame of the Buddha’s teachings.
Pure Perception: Seeing Life as Sacred
At the centre of Vajrayāna is pure perception. Instead of seeing life as ordinary, flawed, or broken, we train to see everything—ourselves, others, emotions, even struggles—as sacred. Through mantra, meditation and visualisation, life itself becomes a mandala.
This doesn’t mean pretending pain or difficulty don’t exist. It means meeting them differently. Anger can be recognised as raw clarity. Desire as the energy of union. Even confusion, when looked at deeply, reveals spacious wisdom.
Buddha Nature: What’s Always Been There
Pure perception rests on recognising tathāgatagarbha—Buddha nature. This is the radiant, indestructible essence we all carry. It’s not something we have to build or improve—it’s already here, like the sun hidden behind clouds.
When we learn to live from Buddha nature, choices get clearer:
does this action bring me closer to that radiant clarity, compassion and connection—or does it obscure it even more?
From Poisons to Wisdoms
One of Vajrayāna’s most powerful teachings is that nothing in us needs to be rejected. Even the emotions we call “negative” can be turned into wisdom. These are the five poisons:
Desire / Attachment → transforms into Discriminating Wisdom, seeing the unique beauty of each being without clinging.
Anger / Aversion → transforms into Mirror-like Wisdom, reflecting reality clearly and without distortion.
Pride / Arrogance → transforms into the Wisdom of Equality, recognising all beings as fundamentally the same in essence.
Jealousy / Envy → transforms into All-Accomplishing Wisdom, the ability to act skilfully and joyfully without competition.
Ignorance / Delusion → transforms into the Wisdom of the Dharmadhātu, seeing the vast, empty-yet-luminous expanse of reality.
This is Vajrayāna’s radical gift: the very things that trip us up can, with awareness, become the fuel for awakening. That’s inner alchemy.
The Sky-Dancers: Ḍākinīs
Vajrayāna is full of imagery and none is more striking than the ḍākinī—the “sky-dancer.” She’s the embodiment of wisdom energy itself. Sometimes wild, sometimes playful, sometimes fierce, the ḍākinī shows up to cut through illusion and call us back to truth.
Ḍākinīs can appear as:
enlightened deities, like Vajrayoginī, fierce and ecstatic, embodying complete transformation,
teachers or consorts, who transmit wisdom directly,
or as the inner ḍākinī, that voice of fierce clarity and intuitive knowing inside us.
The Wildness of the Ḍākinī: Then and Now
In the old stories, ḍākinīs were untamed. They appeared in charnel grounds, danced naked under the sky and laughed at anyone who clung too tightly to rules. Their wildness wasn’t chaos—it was medicine. A way of showing that awakening doesn’t live inside tidy boxes or polite conventions.
Today, the ḍākinī’s wildness is more often felt inwardly. She stirs in heartbreak, in moments of deep ecstasy, in truths that pierce denial. She shows up when life refuses to follow our plans, when wisdom erupts in ways we didn’t expect, when practice carries us beyond comfort zones.
Her dance is still wild—but now it moves through us. She’s the pulse of freedom that says: stop managing, stop clinging. Wake up.
Deities as Mirrors
Alongside ḍākinīs, Vajrayāna works with enlightened deities: Avalokiteśvara (compassion), Green Tārā (protection and healing), Mañjuśrī (wisdom), Vajrapāṇi (power). These aren’t external gods to worship but mirrors of what we already hold within. Through deity yoga, practitioners visualise themselves as the deity and the world as a mandala. It’s not about pretending. It’s about training the mind and body to recognise that these awakened qualities—compassion, clarity, strength—are already in us.
The Heart of Motivation: Bodhicitta
None of this works without bodhicitta: the wish to awaken not just for ourselves but for all beings. Without it, Tantric practices risk being used for ego. With it, they become laser-focused, cutting through illusion and moving us toward wholesomeness and freedom in service of others.
Wholesome motivation has four powers:
it prevents harmful states from arising,
it quiets unwholesome states already present,
it brings forth new wholesome states not yet awakened,
and it strengthens the wholesome qualities already in us.
Living the Wild Essence
Vajrayāna shows us that awakening isn’t far away. It’s here, in this body, this mind, this very moment. Its teachings on pure perception, Buddha nature and the dance of the ḍākinī are a reminder that life itself is already the mandala.
What I share is not traditional Vajrayāna practice—you won’t find the structured initiations, monastic frameworks, or closed circles of Tibetan Buddhism here. Instead, what I offer is inspired by its essence: the alchemy of turning poison into wisdom, the vision of seeing all as sacred and the wild ḍākinī energy that refuses to be tamed.
The ḍākinī has always lived outside of institutions. She is the one who disrupts, who dances on the edges, who cuts through pretence and calls us back to truth. That’s the current I carry, and it’s the pulse that runs through my work.
If you feel that resonance stirring in you—if you long to embody sacred perception, to uncover Buddha nature and to taste the wild freedom of the ḍākinī—you’re welcome to step into the mandala with me.
Explore sessions, retreats and our growing community here.
