In Esoteric or Tantric Buddhism, the invocation of deities unfolds as a carefully ordered process that integrates body, speech, and mind. The ritual typically begins with purification: consecrating the space and the practitioner through incense, water, protective circles, and the cultivation of refuge and bodhicitta. This prepares a pure field in which the sacred presence can be meaningfully invited. From this purified basis, the practitioner turns to emptiness, contemplating that all phenomena, including self and deity, lack inherent existence. Within that open, clear awareness, the conditions are set for the deity to appear as a manifestation of awakened qualities rather than as an independent external god.

From this contemplative ground, visualization arises. In the empty space, a luminous seed syllable appears—often resting upon a lotus and moon-disc—and from this bīja mantra radiate lights that purify worlds and beings. These lights then gather back and transform into the full mandala palace and the central deity, complete with colors, ornaments, implements, and retinue. The practitioner may first visualize the deity in front as an object of refuge and offering, and in more advanced phases, self-generate as the deity, engaging in deity yoga. In this way, the deity is invoked not only as a presence to be approached, but as the very form of one’s own Buddha-nature recognized and assumed.

Speech and body are woven into this process through mantra and mudrā. The deity’s mantra, including root mantras and seed syllables, is recited repeatedly, understood as the vibrational expression of the deity’s enlightened speech and energy. This sustained recitation stabilizes and intensifies the presence of the deity within the visualization. At the same time, specific mudrās—sacred hand gestures corresponding to that deity—are performed to embody particular qualities and to “seal” the invocation, aligning the physical body with the visualized form and the resonant mantra. Offerings of incense, flowers, food, and other symbolic substances are then presented to the manifested presence within the mandala, further refining the sense of sacred communion.

The ritual does not end with mere presence, but moves toward non-dual realization. After the deity has been fully invoked, honored, and identified with, there is a dissolution phase in which the entire mandala and deity are consciously withdrawn back into emptiness. The lights contract, the forms vanish, and only clear, open awareness remains. From this, the practitioner re-emerges into ordinary appearance while retaining the “aftertaste” of identification with the deity and the recognition that practitioner, deity, and emptiness are not ultimately separate. In this way, invocation becomes a method for transforming ordinary perception into sacred vision and for accessing enlightened qualities for both spiritual realization and compassionate activity.