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Tibetan Name: Dorje Naljorma
"The
first moment I laid eyes on this piece I knew that I had discovered a treasure!
I was driven to it every time I was in its presence. This piece is
unquestionably a contemporary masterpiece!" Here the artist vividly portrays Vajrayogini in a dancing posture. The deity Vajrayogini, or Vijeshvari, is sixteen years old, radiantly beautiful with a youthful freshness and vitality, and her face bears an intense expression reflecting her passionate nature. The Yogini's nudity demonstrates her freedom from ordinary conceptions and appearances, which bind us ordinary mortals. She wears a five-skull crown. These five skulls symbolize the first five perfections attainable on the Vajrayana path which are: generosity, discipline, patience, effort and meditative Concentration. Her red body is ablaze with the heat of yogic fire surrounded by the flames of wisdom. She has three eyes, symbolizing her ability to see past, present and future simultaneously. In her left hand, she holds a skull cup filled with swirling brains and entails of the enemies of the Dharma and in her right hand is the kartri, a curved flaying knife, the instrument used to annihilate these enemies. She wears a garland of 50 human skulls. She is adorned with six kinds of ornaments , as is usually the case with tantric divinities symbolizing their perfection in the six paramitas. A Khatvang staff is seen passing through her shoulder representing her consort Heruka Chakrasamvara. He long disheveled hair flows downward against the flame filled background symbolizing her unchanging nature as dharmakaya. Her breasts are full with nipples erect, symbolizing the arousal of desire and indicating Vajrayogini helps those with strong passion to transform it into the realization of great bliss. Beneath the right leg of the deity is a naked figure, when the sadhaka invokes a certain deity, the deity appears. Here the artist has created the visualized form of the deity
Vajrayogini, Vajravarahi or
Bijeshvari Devi
ranks first and most important among the dakini. She is a Vajrayana
Buddhist mediation deity and as such she is considered the female Buddha.
Vajrayogini is a key figure in the advanced Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chöd
where she appears in her Kalika or Vajravarahi forms. Her consort is
Chakrasamvara, who is often depicted as a spear on Vajrayogini’s shoulder. |
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