04/04/2024
Happy Dakini Day! 🎉
“The cult of ta***ic goddess, Vajrayogini, flowered in India between the tenth and twelfth centuries c.e. at a mature phase of the Buddhist ta**ras. One of the most important sources for her practice in India is a collection of sadhanas. A sadhana is a meditation and ritual text—literally, a “means of attainment” (sadhanam)—that centers upon a chosen deity, in this case, upon Vajrayogini or one of her various manifestations. This particular collection was written and preserved in Sanskrit and drawn together under the late, collective title, the Guhyasamayasadhanamala (GSS). It is one of these sadhanas that is edited and translated in this book, and that serves as the basis for our exploration of the goddess, particularly in her form as Vajravarahi.
Who is Vajrayogini? The texts refer to her reverentially as a “blessed one” (bhagavati), as a “deity” (devata) or “goddess” (devi). She is divine in the sense that she embodies enlightenment; and as she is worshiped at the center of a mandala of other enlightened beings, the supreme focus of devotion, she has the status of a buddha. In the opening verse to the Vajravarahi Sadhana., the author salutes her as a vajradevi, that is, as a Vajrayana or ta***ic Buddhist (vajra) goddess, and in the final verse prays that all beings may become enlightened like her, that is, that they may attain “the state of the glorious vajra goddess” (snvajradevipadavt).
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The Emergence of Vajravarahi
The most common form of Vajrayoginl in the Guhyasamayasadhanamdla is Vajravarahi. Hailed as Vajrayoginl in the salutation of most of the Vajravarahi sadhanas, Vajravarahi is regarded as essentially the same as Vajrayoginl; that is, as a vajra-yoginl: “from inside that [dharmodaya] arises the goddess Varahl who is Vajrayoginl [or: Varahl who is a vajra-yoginl].” Vajravarahl’s name means “vajra-hog” (varahah is a hog or boar), or “Buddhist”-Varahi. Her origins lie in the brahmanical goddess, Varahl, who was widely worshiped as one of the seven or eight mothers (matrkds)\ indeed, she is still worshiped as such in Nepal, although clearly distinguished from the Buddhist goddess, Vajravarahi (Gellner 1992: 96, Bautze-Picron 2000). Usually portrayed with the single face of a hog or a boar, the brahmanical Varahl is the female counterpart of Varaha, Visnu’s avatara as a boar. She is often four-armed, holding hook or goad (left), noose (right), and hammer or mace and spear, and she is pot-bellied, fierce and powerful, invoked to destroy enemies (Biihnemann 200oi: 120-21; Donaldson 1995: I58ff.). The Buddhist deity inherits her wrathful character and, just as Varahl with her gruesome head, is intended to inspire terror in her enemies, so Vajravarahl’s character is fierce and wrathful...
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The role of the guru in this process is, of course, central. It is upon his authority alone that the ta***ic systems depend. It is the teacher who transmits teachings, authorizes praxis, and performs the initiations that qualify pupils to identify themselves with their chosen deity in the practice of deity yoga. The importance of understanding the guru to “be” the Buddha (that is, the central deity of the particular ta***ic cult), the benefits of worshiping him, and the evils of transgressing his instructions, are therefore favorite themes in ta***ic literature and often appear in frame verses to sadhana texts, for example:
The guru is the Buddha,
the guru is the Dharma,
and the guru is the Sangha.
The guru is the glorious Vajradhara; in this life only the guru is the means [to awakening]. Therefore, someone
wishing to attain the state of buddhahood should please the guru.
The post-initiatory observances are known as the observances of the pledge or samaya (samayacdrahj.5X Their supreme importance to the newly consecrated yogin is often emphasized by the texts with the insistence that the samaya be “protected.” The yogin does this by practicing it faithfully, and by maintaining a strict code of secrecy...
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The two main streams in the tradition center on the goddesses Vajravarahl and VajrayoginI, and it is perhaps unsurprising that some forms in the Guhyasamayasadhanamdlahavz been seen to draw on both these traditions. Thus, the raised-foot-pose goddesses manifest as a form of white VajrayoginI and as a form of red Vajravarahl; the same is true of VilasinI, who in one manifestation is related to Vajravarahl and in another to the Vidyadharl VajrayoginI; and both traditions are found to merge in the practice of the turtle-stance VajrayoginI. This suggests that such forms are later developments in the cult, able to draw upon a mature iconographical stock.
Is it possible, then, to trace the evolution of the cult from our analysis of its contexts? It seems fairly certain that an early stage would be the definition of the solitary heroine (ekavird) within an all-female mandala based on the Cakrasamvara system. This may have encouraged the identification of Vajravarahl with the generic goddess VajrayoginI and the proliferation of her forms in their terrifying and/or erotic aspects. Our analysis of Umapatidevas Vajravarahi Sddhana will also shown an increasing cremation-ground orientation within these practices, one of which is taken further still in the “skeleton arch” practices (GSS32-34). Here, the tradition seems to draw on forms of VajrayoginI that survive in earlier ta***ic practices, and also from sources that lie outside the main Herukata**ra traditions, namely from esoteric Saivism and perhaps from less influential portions of the Buddhist ta**ras. Finally—or perhaps simultaneously—we see specialist practices emerging from within these different streams of the VajrayoginI tradition, as in the practices that reject the kâpâlika culture altogether and cultivate the erotico-yogic soteriology of mahàmudrà.
The impressive number of forms in which VajrayoginI manifests and the variety of her practices together reflect the richness and popularity of her cult in the land of its birth. According to tradition, of course, such diversity simply illustrates the power of the goddess’s compassion and her mastery of skillful means as she caters to differences in “the character and disposition” of beings.229 Seen in this light, and despite all our efforts, any study of the goddess could only ever reveal a fraction of her true nature— for as the Abhisamayamanjarï points out, Vajrayoginl’s manifestations are, in reality, infinite:
So one should understand the transmissions of the goddess such as these that have come down (âyâtâ) in the lineage of pupils from the teachings of the siddhas to be endless, because of the [endless] differences in the dispositions of those to be trained. This [work] has described this merely in outline. So (ca) having taken up one method among these methods [taught here], one should meditate imbued with faith and compassion, unattached, following the pledge, [and] free from doubt. One will inevitably succeed.”
♦️
~ from VAJRAYOGINI: Her Visualizations, Rituals, & Forms, A Study of the Cult of VajrayoginI in India
by Elizabeth English
"Vajrayogini is a ta***ic goddess from the highest class of Buddhist ta**ras who manifests the ultimate development of wisdom and compassion. Her practice is prevalent today among practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. This ground-breaking book delves into the origins of Vajrayogini, charting her evolution in India and examining her roots in the Cakrasamvara ta**ra and in Indian tradition relating to siva.
The focus of this work is the Guhyasamayasadhanamala, a collection of forty-six sadhanas, or practice texts. Written on palm leaves in Sanskrit and preserved since the twelfth century, this diverse collection, composed by various authors, reveals a multitude of forms of the goddess, each of which is described and illustrated here. One of the sadhanas, the Vajravarahi Sadhana by Umapatideva, depicts Vajrayogini at the center of a mandala of thirty-seven different goddesses, and is here presented in full translation alongside a Sanskrit edition. Elizabeth English provides extensive explanation and annotation of this representative text. Sixteen pages of stunning color plates not only enhance the study but bring the goddess to life."
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