Facing contradictions and deception in samsara’s death, birth, sexuality, desire, love and loss in the blinding light of the non-dual “mother nature” AH
dakini
Diamond in the Desert: A Vajrayogini Dance in the Liwa Oasis
On 5 August, Guanyin Day, artist-mystic Rebecca Wong headed into the Liwa Oasis to dance in the sacred presence of the Sun, dunes, and Vajrayogini
Women in Indian Tantric Buddhism, Part One
There are two Vajrayana paths that lead to the spiritual realization of women – the path of a nun (Skt. bhikshuni, Tib. gelongma) who has renounced worldly existence, and the path of a yogini (Tib. naljorma) who can perform spiritual practice in solitude or combine it with family life. In the Indian Tantric tradition, there […]
Nairatmya, Part Two
Nairatmya. From tibetshop.com The practice of the dakini Nairatmya was transmitted to Tibet and preserved in the Tengyur, the second part of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. In the Kagyu and Gelug schools, she appears mainly as a spiritual wife of the fierce protective deity Hevajra and very rarely as an independent deity. She is revered […]
The Practice of Simhamukha
Featured image: Simkamukha fragment. From thangka-art.com Simhamukha is a supreme dakini in Tibetan Buddhism, who combines anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features. She is an wrathful emanation of Guhya Jnana Dakini (Tib. Sangwa Yeshe Khandroma) and is revered in the Nyingma school as one of Padmasambhava’s main teachers. In Hevajra Tantra, she appears as one of the […]
Simhamukha, the Lion-faced Dakini
Simhamukha is a wrathful goddess in Vajrayana Buddhism, whose name means “lion-faced.” Her Tibetan name Senge Dongma has the same meaning. She is considered a dakini who has attained the perfect state of Buddha. Although Simhamukha has the potential to manifest all enlightened activities, she is associated primarily with destructive or wrathful forces. The lion-faced […]
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 […]
Mystery of Dakini’s Skull Cup
According to tantra, the human body is perceived as a sacred temple in which all higher forces and the whole truth about existence are present. One of those truths, fundamental to Vajrayana Buddhism, is impermanence (Skt. anitya, Tib. mitagpa). The visual representation of the transience of the human body, and hence the Buddhist idea of […]
Homage to the Primordial Wisdom Dakini
Lyudmila Klasanova A dakini is one of the most remarkable manifestations of the Buddha nature in female form. In Buddhist tradition, dakinis are worshiped as human emanations of wisdom that keep the key to the esoteric knowledge of Vajrayana and reveal the path to complete freedom. The term was originally associated with secondary figures in […]