As the United States launches its long-awaited trade war against China, I wonder whether something subtler, but just as significant, is bubbling under the already tumultuous surface. I pondered for a short while whether this observation held any water. After all, indirect pressures or persuasions, rather than outright pronunciations and their enforcement, characterize the influence […]
Day: July 6, 2018
The Union of Daka and Dakini
Maithuna figures and Tantric deities in union. Drawing by the author In Vajrayana Buddhism, the male equivalent of a dakini, a female emanation of wisdom (Tib. khandroma), is known as daka in Sanskrit and pawo in Tibetan. Pawo literally means “hero” and it is accepted as the tantric equivalent of a bodhisattva. In tantric practice, daka embodies the process […]