rdo rje'i theg pa

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རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཐེག་པ
vajrayana, the vajra vehicle [IW]

Vajrayana, the vajra vehicle. See also rdo rje theg pa [RY]

vajrayana [RB]

1) Skt. Vajrayāna (Buddhism); 2) the Diamond Vehicle, the Thunderbolt Vehicle, the Adamantine Vehicle, the Vajra Vehicle; 3) Tantric Buddhism, Esoteric Buddhism. Usually synonymous with gsang sngags and rgyud. Contrary to popular belief in international Tibetan Buddhist circles, in most Tibetan sources this term is used relatively rarely in comparison to the far more common terms gsang sngags and rgyud. Hence Tibetans, like all other Mahāyāna Buddhists of Asia, do not necessarily see "Vajrayāna" as a form of Buddhism intrinsically separate from Mahāyāna, but rather how it is seen in academic Buddhist Studies and elsewhere as a self-consciously esoteric, tantric form of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Therefore 'Esoteric Buddhism' or 'Tantric Buddhism' are the most commonly used terms outside the Western/international Tibetan Buddhist scene, whereas the word 'Vajrayāna' as used in English and other languages is, to a large extent, a modern gloss for the Tibetan terms gsang sngags or rgyud (i.e. guhya-mantra and tantra). More to the point, Vajrayāna, Tantric or Esoteric Buddhism is essentially a sect and/or tantric version of Mahāyāna Buddhism, is widely considered as such within the Asian traditions themselves as well as in modern academia, and may or may not be considered to be a truly separate yāna (strictly speaking) depending on the lineage and tradition. Erick Tsiknopoulos