The Johnson Museum’s collection of Tibetan and Nepalese art includes paintings, sculpture, and ritual implements made for Tantric Buddhist use. Tantric Buddhism, or Vajrayana (“The Vehicle of the Thunderbolt”), is a complex form of Mahayana Buddhism based on ancient Indian treatises called Tantras. These Tantras consist of mystical diagrams (mandalas), magic formulas, and a mysterious language. In the Himalayan kingdoms, this form of Buddhism also incorporates remnants of shamanistic influences from Tibet’s indigenous religion, Bon. Tantric Buddhism emphasizes the belief that all passions, whether benign or fiercesome, can lead to liberation because they are powerful forms of energy that can be used for many purposes. Paintings and sculptures served as aids to meditation and visualization, to enable the practitioner’s progress toward enlightenment.