26.5"x20" Vajrayogini Thangka Painting

 Vajrayogini - The Dakini of Wisdom

Vajrayogini is a female Buddha and one of the principal meditational deities of Highest Yoga Tantra. She is the female embodiment of the wisdom of the inseparability of great bliss and emptiness. Her practices are believed to have many special qualities and quickly bring powerful blessings and accomplishments. The instructions for her Tantric path were first taught in the Root Tantra of Heruka by Buddha Vajradhara.

Gestures and Attributes

Vajrayogini's outstretched right leg treads on the breast of red Kalarati, the principal worldly goddess. Her bent left leg treads upon black Bhairawa, the principal worldly god. Vajrayogini treads on Kalarati and Bhairawa to demonstrate that she has destroyed her attachment, hatred, and ignorance, and to show that she is free from the fears of samsara and can lead all living beings to the same freedom.

Vajrayogini has a red-colored body which shines with a brilliance like that of a fire at the end of an aeon, symbolizing the blazing of her inner fire which destroys all delusion. She has three eyes, symbolizing her ability to see everything in the past, present, and future. She looks up toward the Pure Land of the Dakinis, indicating that she leads her followers to high attainments, including the attainment of great bliss. Her right hand, outstretched and pointing downwards, holds a curved knife marked with a vajra, representing her power to cut the continuum of the delusions and obstacles of all living beings. Her left hand, held aloft, contains a skullcup filled with blood, which symbolizes her experience of the clear light of bliss, and her victory over death.

Her left shoulder supports a khatanga marked with a vajra, indicating that she is never separated from her consort Heruka. She is in the prime of her youth and her beautiful hair hangs freely down her back, symbolizing that she is free from the fetters of self-grasping. Her headdress is adorned with five human skulls which represent Vajrayogini's purified aggregates. Her purified inner winds are symbolized by her long necklace of fifty human skulls. She stands in the center of a blazing fire of exalted wisdom, and she is supported by a lotus symbolizing the complete purity of her body, speech, and mind.