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Blue or Ugra Tara (Khadga Yogini or Vajrayogini) is a dreadful manifestation of Tara and has a
ferocious form. She was overpowered by
Padmasambhava. 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.
Vajrayogini, Vajravarahi or Bijeshvari Devi ranks first
and most important among the dakini. She is a Vajrayana
Buddhist meditation 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. |
