The vajra plays an important role in Vajrayana Buddhist art and ritual. It symbolizes indestructable power, like the lightning bolt of the northern European god Thor or the southern European god Zeus. It is especially associated with the Indian Vedic god Indra, king of the heavens. The vajra as weapon is wielded like a club by figures such as the wrathful deity Vajrapani in order to subjugate an external or internal obstacle, and thus is simultaneously a tool of compassion and skillful means leading to the perfect state of enlightenment. In Vajrayana Buddhism, the vajra and bell are the two most important ritual objects. Several early Mahayana sutras speak of the "vajra samadhi", the final meditative absorption a bodhisattva engages in before entering full buddhahood. In the practice of deity meditation, the foundational meditation of Vajrayana Buddhism, the practitioner at one stage is commonly asked to visualize the mind becoming or appearing as a vajra. The place of the Buddha’s enlightenment in Bodhgaya is known as the seat of "vajra'sana" or "vajra asana", that is "vajra meditation".

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