yidam

English
A painting depicting the yidam Chakrasamvara

Etymology

from Tibetan ཡི་དམ (yi dam), (Sanskrit: समादान (samādān)[1] or སམཱདཱནི (samādāni))[2]

The word is said to be a contraction of ཡིད་ཀྱི་དམ་ཚིག (yid kyi dam tshig), which means to bind one’s mind ཡིད (yid)་ by promise་དམ་ཚིག (dam tshig).་

Noun

yidam (plural yidams)

  1. (Buddhism) A type of deity associated with tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism said to be manifestations of Buddhahood or enlightened mind.
    • 2004, Chogyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa‎, volume 7:
      Yidams are not to be equated with the patron saints or guardian angels found in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions.

References
  1. Lokesh Chandra (1976) Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary, page 2148
  2. སཾ་བོད་རྒྱ་གསུམ་ཤན་སྦྱར་གྱི་ཚིག་མཛོད། (Sanskrit-Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary)(p 615)

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