Within Esoteric, or Tantric, Buddhism, mudrās are not treated as decorative gestures but as precise, codified “seals” that operate on several levels at once. Each gesture is associated with particular Buddhas, bodhisattvas, or enlightened qualities such as compassion, wisdom, or fearlessness, and by assuming a given mudrā the practitioner ritually embodies those awakened states in the body. In this way, the gesture becomes a non-verbal language through which doctrinal meanings—emptiness, the union of method and wisdom, or the turning of the Dharma wheel—are expressed and internalized. The mudrā thus serves as a bridge between the practitioner’s ordinary embodiment and the ideal form of awakened being that Tantric practice seeks to actualize.

Mudrās are also called “seals” because they ritually seal and stabilize the activity of the practice. In Tantric ritual, body, speech, and mind are coordinated through mudrā (gesture), mantra (recitation), and visualization (meditative imagery). When performed together, the hand gesture aligns the physical dimension with the spoken mantra and the visualized deity, creating an integrated field of practice that supports specific tantric activities such as pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, or subjugating. In deity yoga, where the practitioner visualizes becoming the deity, the mudrā functions as the bodily counterpart to that transformation, signifying the shift from an ordinary body to the “vajra body” of the deity.

Because of this integrative role, mudrās are understood to contribute directly to the efficacy of ritual. They help create and mark sacred space, invoke and embody particular qualities or deities, and support the generation and maintenance of specific states of consciousness. Rather than being merely symbolic, they are regarded as operative means for actualizing and stabilizing enlightened energies and perspectives. Through repeated use in ritual, these gestures gradually reshape perception, allowing the practitioner’s body itself to participate in the unfolding of wisdom and compassion.