Editing Tibetan Buddhism (section)

=== Esotericism and vows ===
[[File:His_Holiness_the_14th_Dalai_Lama_praying_in_the_pavilion%2C_closing_the_Kalachakra_mandala_and_offering_flowers%2C_monks%2C_thangkas%2C_throne%2C_photographer%2C_security_officers%2C_sponsors%2C_Verizon_Center%2C_Washington_D.C.%2C_USA_(5956316522).jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The 14th Dalai Lama praying in the pavilion, closing the Kālacakra mandala and offering flowers, during a Kālacakra initiation in [[Washington, D.C.]], 2011.]]

In Vajrayāna particularly, Tibetan Buddhists subscribe to a voluntary code of self-censorship, whereby the uninitiated do not seek and are not provided with information about it. This self-censorship may be applied more or less strictly depending on circumstances such as the material involved. A depiction of a [[Mandalas|mandala]] may be less public than that of a deity. That of a higher tantric deity may be less public than that of a lower. The degree to which information on Vajrayāna is now public in western languages is controversial among Tibetan Buddhists.

Buddhism has always had a taste for [[Eastern esotericism|esotericism]] since its earliest period in India.{{sfnp|Conze|1993|pp=26 and 52f}} Tibetans today maintain greater or lesser degrees of confidentiality also with information on the ''[[vinaya]]'' and [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] specifically. In Buddhist teachings generally, too, there is caution about revealing information to people who may be unready for it.

Practicing tantra also includes the maintaining of a separate set of vows, which are called ''[[Samaya]] (dam tshig)''. There are various lists of these and they may differ depending on the practice and one's lineage or individual guru. Upholding these vows is said to be essential for tantric practice and breaking them is said to cause great harm.{{sfnp|Powers|2007|p=315}}