page_title: Deity yoga
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Deity yoga / Overview
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Калачакра, х.грунт. минеральн. кр, 98х58, 168х85, Бурятия,19 в. English: Kālacakra
context_page_description: Deity yoga is a practice of Vajrayana Buddhism involving identification with a chosen deity through visualisations and rituals, and the realisation of emptiness. According to the Tibetan scholar Tsongkhapa, deity yoga is what separates Buddhist Tantra practice from the practice of other Buddhist schools.
  Deity yoga involves two stages, the generation stage and the completion stage. In the generation stage, one dissolves the mundane world and visualizes one's chosen deity, its mandala and companion deities, resulting in identification with this divine reality. In the completion stage, one dissolves the visualization of and identification with the yidam in the realization of sunyata or emptiness. Completion stage practices can also include subtle body energy practices.
caption: Painting of Kalachakra, a yidam (Buryatia, 19th c.)
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