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Journalism of Courage
The female deities in Buddhism express the qualities of Enlightenment through a tremendous range of appearance and archetypes. The mature and beautiful Prajnaparamita, whose body is a galaxy of golden Buddhas, seems to be transcendental wisdom expressing itself through the form of the Great Mother. In the forms of old crones or witches, Shridevi and Ekajata protect the Dharma, and the mind of the Buddhist practitioner. The beautiful Tara is said to embody all the positive qualities of a virgin, a queen, and a mother. the consorts of the Five Buddhas are very much ‘‘Queens of the Mandala’’.
Western women may well find the dakinis particularly exciting expressions of Enlightenment. It is a cliche that Christianity has tended to present women with two alternatives: the Madonna or the whore, the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalen. This has often caused the more passionate side of women to be cast into the ‘‘outer darkness’’. But in Buddhist Tantra the wild, naked, dishevelled dakinis are as much an expression of Enlightened consciousness as the calm and serene White Tara. The dakinis have something magical about them, as well as the scent of danger. Thus they touch upon not only something of the Wild Woman but also the Shamaness or Magician, as well as the fearless Warrior and the passionate Lover.
This tremendous spectrum of different figures is united by two factors. First, they all help to lead those who reflect and mediate on them towards Enlightenment. The Buddha once said that his teaching was like the great ocean; from whichever part of the ocean you take water, it always tastes of salt. Similarly, he said, whichever aspect of the Dharma you learn has the taste of freedom. These female deities are all embodiments of the Dharma and, peaceful or wrathful, beautiful or ugly, they can all lead us in the direction of liberation from suffering.
The second factor that unites the figures is that they are all insubstantial — emanations of emptiness. When you meditate on any of them, you do not begin by seeing the figure herself; you start by visualising a vast expanse of sky, stretching away in all directions. The figure then appears in the sky. She is made of light, like a hologram or something fashioned out of rainbows. At the end of the meditation, you imagine her dissolving back into the blue sky. Though deep meditation it is possible to go beyond reliance even on these Buddhist forms, to travel into the blue sky, and recognise the radiant, shining nature of mind itself.
Extracted from ‘The female deities in Buddhism, a concise guide’, Rupa ’04
