Vajrayogini (Dakini of Wisdom)

Dimension: height 16cm, width 13cm, depth 4.5cm

About this sculpture

This oxidized finish copper alloy statue is handcrafted by Nepalese artist Nevare.

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 possess many special qualities and rapidly bring powerful blessings and results. Instructions for her tantric path were first taught in Heruka’s Root Tantra by Buddha Vajradhara.

GESTURES AND ATTRIBUTES
Vajrayogini’s extended right leg tramples upon the breast of red Kalarati, the chief worldly goddess. Her bent left leg tramples upon black Bhairawa, the chief worldly god. Vajrayogini tramples upon 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 that shines with a brilliance like that of a fire at the end of an eon, symbolizing the blazing of her inner fire that destroys all illusion. She has three eyes, symbolizing her ability to see everything in the past, present, and future. She looks upwards towards the Dakinis’ Pure Land, indicating that she leads her followers to high attainments, including the achievement of great bliss. Her right hand, extended downwards, holds a curved knife marked with a vajra, representing her power to cut the continuum of delusions and obstacles of all living beings. Her left hand, held upwards, holds a skull cup full of blood, symbolizing 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 separate from her consort Heruka. She is in the prime of her youth, and her beautiful hair flows freely down her back, symbolizing that she is free from the shackles of self-attachment. Her headdress is adorned with five human skulls representing 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 is supported by a lotus symbolizing the complete purity of her body, speech, and mind.