Editing Vajrayana (section)

===Other practices===
[[File:Astamangala Mandala, Newar people, Nepal, 19th century, bronze inlaid with semiprecious stones - Cincinnati Art Museum - DSC03219.jpg|thumb|A Newari Buddhist mandala used for Guru Puja, Nepal, 19th century, gilt copper inlaid with semiprecious stones]]
[[File:Esoteric Buddhist Goma Fire Ritual at Yakuōin Yūkiji 3.webm|thumb|Video of a Shingon Goma Fire Ritual at Yakuōin Yūkiji, [[Mount Takao]]]]
Another form of Vajrayana practice are certain meditative techniques associated with [[Mahamudra|Mahāmudrā]] and [[Dzogchen]], often termed "formless practices" or the path of self-liberation. These techniques do not rely on deity visualization per se but on direct [[pointing-out instruction]] from a master, and are often seen as the most advanced and direct methods.{{sfn|Ray|2001|pp=112-113}}

Another distinctive feature of Tantric Buddhism is its unique and often elaborate [[ritual]]s. They include pujas (worship rituals), [[Monlam Prayer Festival|prayer festivals]], protection rituals, death rituals, tantric feasts (''ganachakra''), tantric initiations (''abhiseka'') and the goma fire ritual (common in East Asian Esotericism).

[[File:Buddhist_spiritual_dance_Bomdila.webm|thumb|A video of the [[Cham dance]], a traditional practice in some sects of Tibetan Buddhism]]

An important element in some of these rituals (particularly initiations and tantric feasts) seems to have been the practice of [[Sexual ritual|ritual sex]] or sexual yoga (''[[Karmamudrā|karmamudra]],'' "desire seal", also called "consort observance", ''vidyavrata,'' and euphemistically as "''[[Puja (Buddhism)|puja]]''"), as well as the sacramental ingestion of "power substances" such as the mingled sexual fluids and uterine blood (often performed by licking these substances off the [[vulva]], a practice termed ''yonipuja'').{{sfn|Gray|2007|pp=108-118}}

The practice of ingestion of sexual fluids is mentioned by numerous tantric commentators, sometimes euphemistically referring to the penis as the "vajra" and the vagina as the "lotus". The ''[[Cakrasaṃvara Tantra|Cakrasamvara Tantra]]'' commentator Kambala, writing about this practice, states:

<blockquote>The seats are well-known on earth to be spots within the lotus mandala; by abiding within it there is great bliss, the royal nature of nondual joy. Therefore the lotus seat is supreme: filled with a mixture of semen and uterine blood, one should especially kiss it, and lolling with the tongue take it up. Unite the vajra and lotus, with the rapture of drinking [this] liquor.{{sfn|Gray|2007|p=118.}}</blockquote>

According to David Gray, these sexual practices probably originated in a non-monastic context and were later adopted by monastic establishments (such as [[Nalanda]] and [[Vikramashila]]). He notes that the anxiety of figures like [[Atiśa|Atisa]] about these practices, and the stories of [[Virupa|Virūpa]] and [[Maitripada|Maitripa]] being expelled from their monasteries for performing them, shows that supposedly celibate monastics were undertaking these sexual rites.{{sfn|Gray|2007|p=126}}

Because of its adoption by the monastic tradition, sexual yoga slowly became either done with an imaginary consort visualized by the yogi instead of an actual person, or reserved to a small group of the "highest" or elite practitioners. Likewise, the drinking of sexual fluids was also reinterpreted by later commentators to refer to illusory body anatomy of the perfection stage practices.{{sfn|Gray|2007|pp=121, 127}}