Vajravārāhī
In
Although there are practices of Vajravārāhī in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, she is particularly associated with the Kagyu school and is one of the main yidam practices of that school. Her tulkus, the Samding Dorje Phagmo, are associated with the Bodongpa, a little-known school of Tibetan Buddhism.[3]
Iconography
Vajravārāhī is one of the most popular female Tantric deities in all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Although there are several forms, the basic iconography is that she has one face, (usually) two hands and two legs, is usually red in colour, and standing in a dancing posture on a human corpse. The distinguishing iconographic attribute is a sow head (varahi) placed either on the right side of her head or on the top of her head. Because of this sow's head, sometimes she is called the 'two-faced' Vajrayogini (shal nyi ma).[4]
Outline
In Buddhist tantric texts, Vajravarahi and Cakrasamvara defeat the embodiments of ego, Bhairava and Kali, in a battle that sees each side pitting twenty-four emanations of themselves against the other in twenty-four sacred sites.[5]
Incarnation lineages
Samding Dorje Phagmo
One
However, her effects were said to be more practical: as abbess of Samding, it is said that she stopped the invasion of the
In 1716, when the Jungar invaders of Tibet came to Nangartse, their chief sent word to Samding to the Dorjo Phagmo to appear before him, that he might see if she really had, as reported, a pig's head. A mild answer was returned to him; but, incensed at her refusing to obey his summons, he tore down the walls of the monastery of Samding, and broke into the sanctuary. He found it deserted, not a human being in it, only eighty pigs and as many sows grunting in the congregation hall under the lead of a big sow, and he dared not sack a place belonging to pigs. When the Jungars had given up all idea of sacking Samding, suddenly the pigs disappeared to become venerable-looking lamas and nuns, with the saintly Dorje Phagmo at their head. Filled with astonishment and veneration for the sacred character of the lady abbess, the chief made immense presents to her lamasery.[7]
Other incarnation lineages
There also is a Dorje Phagmo tulku in
Footnotes
- ^ Tucci 1988, p. 323.
- ^ Simmer-Brown 2014, p. 144.
- ^ Tsering 1993.
- ^ Watt.
- ^ Gamble 2018, p. 121.
- ^ Simmer-Brown 2014, p. 185.
- ^ McGovern 2000, pp. 294–295.
- ^ Diemberger 2007, p. 334, n. 4.
References
- Diemberger, Hildegard (2007). When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty: The Samding Dorje Phagmo of Tibet. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14320-2.
- Gamble, Ruth (2018). Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: The Third Karmapa and the Invention of a Tradition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190690786.
- McGovern, W. M. (2000) [1924]. To Lhasa in Disguise: A Secret Expedition through Mysterious Tibet (Reprint ed.). Delhi: Asian Educational Services. pp. 294–295. ISBN 81-206-1456-9.
- Simmer-Brown, Judith (2014). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 978-0834828421.
- Tsering, Tashi (1993). "A Preliminary Reconstruction of the Successive Reincarnations of Samding Dorje Phagmo: The Foremost Woman Incarnation of Tibet". Journal of Tibetan Women's Studies (1): 20–53.
- ISBN 0-520-06348-1.
- Watt, Jeff. "Vajravarahi Main Page". Himalayan Art. New York: Rubin Museum. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
Further reading
- English, Elizabeth (2002). Vajrayogini: Her Visualizations, Rituals, & Forms. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-329-X.