Yab-Yum
Yab-yum is a tantric Buddhist image of a deity in sexual embrace with a consort. It symbolizes the union of wisdom with compassion or skillful means.
Prajñā: In Mahayana Buddhism, prajñā is insight into reality, especially the emptiness of all phenomena. The female figure commonly embodies the wisdom that the embrace joins with method.
Vajrayana: Vajrayana is a Buddhist tradition using tantric methods such as mantra, visualization, and ritual initiation. Yab-yum belongs to the ritual and visual worlds of this broader Buddhist vehicle.
Vajradhara: Vajradhara is a primordial Buddha central to several Tibetan Buddhist traditions. His embrace with consort is a prominent representation of primordial wisdom and method.
Karma mudrā: Karma mudrā is a tantric consort, either visualized or physical, used in certain advanced practices. It names a practice context that should not be inferred from every yab-yum image.
Upāya: Upāya, or skillful means, is the adaptive use of methods to guide beings toward awakening. The male figure commonly embodies the compassionate method joined with wisdom.
Tantra: Tantra is a body of religious traditions and texts using ritual, visualization, mantra, and esoteric instruction. The image arises from tantric frameworks, not from Buddhist art in general.
Samantabhadra (Buddhism): Samantabhadra is a bodhisattva associated with vows and practice, and a primordial Buddha in some Tibetan traditions. In Nyingma iconography, Samantabhadra appears in union with Samantabhadrī.
Jñāna mudrā: Jñāna mudrā is a visualized wisdom consort used in tantric meditation. It distinguishes an imagined consort in practice from a depicted pair in artwork.
Nonduality: Nonduality is the view that apparent opposites are not ultimately separate or independently real. The paired figures express the overcoming of distinctions such as wisdom and method.
Deity yoga: Deity yoga is a tantric meditation in which practitioners visualize themselves as an enlightened deity. Yab-yum figures often appear within visualizations of tantric deities.