Udiana, a small region in early medieval India, is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of Vajrayāna Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhist traditions view it as a Beyul, a legendary heavenly place inaccessible to ordinary mortals. Padmasambhava, the eighth-century Buddhist master who was instrumental in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, was believed to have been born in Oddiyana. The Dzogchen Siddha Garab Dorje is likewise attributed to this region.

Vajrayāna, also known as Mantrayāna, Mantranāya, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Buddhist tradition of tantric practice that developed in the Indian subcontinent and spread to Tibet, Nepal, other Himalayan states, East Asia, and Mongolia.