yidam

In Vajrayana Buddhism, a yidam is a deity or buddha with whom the meditator connects as part of a deity yoga practice. Practitioners take tantric vows (Tib. damtsik) as part of abhisheka initiations, followed by oral instruction from a master, which permit them to perform meditations in which they visualize themselves becoming the deity described in a particular tantra, and gaining that deity’s enlightened or wrathful powers.