Dakini
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A dakini (Tibetan: khandro, Wylie: mkha'-'gro-ma, ZYPY: Kandroma; Chinese language: 空行女) may be understood to refer to a minor goddess or female deity.
In the Tibetan language the Sanskrit term dakini is rendered Khandroma (mkha’-‘gro-ma) meaning “she who traverses the sky” or “she who moves in space”; this is sometimes rendered poetically as "sky dancer" or "sky walker". Iconographically, their bodies are depicted curved in sinuous dance poses. They dance as they are active manifestations of energy or shakti. It should be noted that while dakinis are often depicted as beautiful and naked, they are not viewed primarily as sexual symbols but as symbols of the naked or natural mind or rigpa stripped of all obscuration and defilements. And the movements of their dance signify the movements and thoughts or the quanta of consciousness in the mindstream and the dharmakaya as the wellspring of the spontaneously emerging Buddha-mind, or rigpa.
Dakinis are prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibet and the Himalaya where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse (or inspirational thoughtform) for spiritual practice. Dakinis are energetic thoughtforms in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
Dakinis are questing and testing agents. There are instances where a dakini has come to test an aspirant's control over his or her sexual desires, but the dakini should not themselves be construed as beings of passion and sexuality. Many stories of the Mahasiddhas in Tibet contain passages where a Dakini perturbs the aspiring Mahasiddha. When the dakini's test has been fulfilled and passed, the aspirant is often then recognised as a Mahasiddha and often elevated into the Dakini Paradise, a place of enlightened bliss.[citation needed]
According to tradition, a Dakini gave a black hat to the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284 - 1339), when he was three years old.[1] The Black Crown became the emblem of the oldest reincarnating Tibetan lineage.
Dakinis, being associated with energy in all its functions, are linked with the revelation of the Anuttara Tantras or Higher Tantras, which represent the path of transformation. Here, the energy of negative emotions or kleshas, called poisons, are transformed into the luminous energy of enlightened awareness or gnosis (jnana) yielding rigpa.
Iconography
"Iconographic representations tend to show the dakini as a young, naked figure in a dancing posture, often holding a skull cup filled with menstrual blood or the elixir of life in one hand, and a curved knife in the other. She may wear a garland of human skulls, with a trident staff leaning against her shoulder. Her hair is usually wild and hanging down her back, and her face often wrathful in expression, as she dances on top of a corpse, which represents her complete mastery over ego and ignorance" (Campbell 138). Practitioners often claim to hear the clacking of her bone adornments as the dakinis indulge in their vigorous movement.[citation needed]
Notes
References
- Beyer, Stephen (1973). The Cult of Tara: Magic and Ritual in Tibet. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02192-4
- Campbell, June. (1996). "Traveller in Space: In Search of the Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism". George Braziller. ISBN 0-8076-1406-8
- English, Elizabeth (2002). Vajrayogini: Her Visualizations, Rituals, and Forms. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-329-X
- Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang (1991). Guide to Dakini Land: The Highest Yoga Tantra Practice Buddha Vajrayogini. Tharpa Publications. ISBN 0-948006-18-8
- Norbu, Thinley (1981). Magic Dance: The Display of the Self Nature of the Five Wisdom Dakinis. Jewel Publishing House, 2nd edition. ISBN 0-9607000-0-5
- Padmasambhava, translated by Erik Pema Kunsang (1999) Dakini Teachings. Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2nd edition. ISBN 962-7341-36-3
- Simmer-Brown, Judith (2001). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-720-7
- Yeshe, Lama (2001). Introduction to Tantra : The Transformation of Desire. Wisdom Publications, revised edition. ISBN 0-86171-162-9