Let M and N be Riemannian manifolds and let u : M → N be a harmonic map. Let du denote the derivative (pushforward) of u, ∇ the gradient, Δ the Laplace–Beltrami operator, Riem_N the Riemann curvature tensor on N and Ric_M the Ricci curvature tensor on M. Then

${\displaystyle {\frac {1}{2}}\Delta {\big (}|\nabla u|^{2}{\big )}={\big |}\nabla (\mathrm {d} u){\big |}^{2}+{\big \langle }\mathrm {Ric} _{M}\nabla u,\nabla u{\big \rangle }-{\big \langle }\mathrm {Riem} _{N}(u)(\nabla u,\nabla u)\nabla u,\nabla u{\big \rangle }.}$ 

• Bochner's formula

• Eells, J; Lemaire, L. (1978). "A report on harmonic maps". Bull. London Math. Soc. 10 (1): 1–68. doi:10.1112/blms/10.1.1. MR 0495450.

• Weisstein, Eric W. "Bochner identity". MathWorld.