A dakini (Sanskrit: डाकिनी ḍākinī; Tibetan: མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་ khandroma, Wylie: mkha' 'gro ma, TP: kanzhoima; Chinese: 空行母) is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'.
The dakini, in all her varied forms, is an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. She is so central to the requirements for a practitioner to attain full enlightenment as a Buddha that she appears in a tantric formulation of the Buddhist Three Jewels refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Most commonly she appears as the protector, alongside a guru and yidam, but Judith Simmer-Brown points out that:
The dakini, in her various guises, serves as each of the Three Roots. She may be a human guru, a vajra master who transmits the Vajrayana teachings to her disciples and joins them in samaya commitments. The wisdom dakini may be a yidam, a meditational deity; female deity yogas such as Vajrayogini are common in Tibetan Buddhism. Or she may be a protector; the wisdom dakinis have special power and responsibility to protect the integrity of oral transmissions[1]
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Although dakini figures appear in Hinduism and in the Bön tradition, dakinis are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism and have been particularly conceived in Tibetan Buddhism where the dakini, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, act somewhat as a muse (or inspirational thoughtform) for spiritual practice. Dakinis are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.
Dakinis, being associated with energy in all its functions, are linked with the revelation of the Anuttara Yoga Tantras or Higher Tantras, which represent the path of transformation, whereby the energy of negative emotions or kleshas, called poisons, are transformed into the luminous energy of enlightened awareness (jnana) yielding rigpa.
When considered as a stage on the Vajrayana Path, the dakini is the final stages: the first is the guru, which corresponds to the initial realization of the true condition of reality, as this is introduced by the guru in the empowerment, if the disciple obtains what the Inner Tantras call peyi yeshe (dpe yi ye shes). The second is the devata, which corresponds to the meditation insofar as the devata is the method we use for developing the state discovered in the initial realization of the true condition of reality. The third stage is the dakini insofar as the dakini is the source of the activities based on the realization of the guru and the meditation of the devata. In Dzogchen these three correspond to tawa (lta ba), gompa (sgom pa) and chöpa (spyod pa): the first is the direct Vision of the true nature of reality rather than an intellectual view of reality, as is the case with the term in other vehicles; the second is the continuity of this vision in sessions of meditation; and the third is the continuity of this vision in the everyday activities. As a tantric practice, imperfections are utilised to make the vision uninterrupted. As the Base, the dakinis are the energies of life; as the Path, they are the activities of advanced practitioners; as the Fruit, they are the actionless activities of realized Masters.[2]
According to tradition, a Dakini gave a black hat to the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), when he was three years old.,[3] The Black Crown became the emblem of the oldest reincarnating Tibetan lineage.
Judith Simmer-Brown, based on teachings she received from Tibetan lamas,[4] identifies four main classes of dakini. These follow the Twilight Language tradition of esotericism in referring to secret, inner, outer and outer-outer classes of dakinis. The secret class of dakini is Prajnaparamita (Tibetan yum chenmo) or voidness, the empty nature of reality according to Mahayana doctrine. The inner class of dakini is the dakini of the mandala, a meditational deity (Tibetan:yidam) and fully enlightened Buddha who helps the practitioner recognise their own Buddhahood. The outer dakini is the physical form of the dakini, attained through Completion Stage Tantra practices such as the Six Yogas of Naropa that work with the subtle winds of the subtle body so that the practitioner's body is compatible with an enlightened mind. The outer-outer dakini is a dakini in human form. She is a yogini, or Tantric practitioner in her own right but may also be a kamamudra, or consort, of a yogi or mahasiddha.
Dakinis can also be classified according to the Trikaya, or three bodies of a Buddha. The Dharmakaya dakini, which is Samantabhadri, represents the Dharmadhatu where all phenomena appear. The Sambhogakaya dakinis are the yidams used as meditational deities for tantric practice. The Nirmanakaya dakinis are human women born with special potentialities; these are realized yogini, the consorts of the gurus, or even all women in general as they may be classified into the Five Buddha Families.[2]
In Hinduism the term Dakini has often negative associations. From the ninth through at least the thirteenth centuries, there was an active cult of dakinis, usually called yoginis in India today.[5] The dakinis are the guardians of the deeper mysteries of the self, and it is through them that the secrets of inner transformation are opened.[6] The Ranipur-Jharial Temple in Orissa, India, contains stone carvings of sixty-four dakinis, ancient symbolic representations of the female principles of intuitive wisdom.[6] At least nine yogini temples have been discovered so far. There is a distinction among the terms goddess, shakti, yogini and dakini, shakini though in general conversation it is blurred and the terms are used interchangeably[5] A dakini (Sanskrit: "sky dancer") is a Tantric priestess of ancient India who "carried the souls of the dead to the sky" They are timeless, inorganic, immortal, non-human beings who have co-existed since the very beginning with the Spiritual Energy.[7]
According to one legend Dakini and Shakini were the wives of Tripurasura. After Tripurasura was slain by Shiva, they got the boon from Shiva, that they could live in forest without any threat and people would chant their name first before they visit the shrine of Bhimashankara. The forest around hence was also known as Dakini Forest.[8]
The Tantric practrices and Tantric sex may involve a "helper" dakini – a human female trained in Tantra Yoga – or an "actual" dakini.[7]
In Hinduism, the yogis and persons seeking Siddhis often has to face challenges from Dakini, Shakini, Kamini & Kakini. One has to defeat them or overcome them in order to gain Sidhhis and thus become a Mahasiddha or a true Yogi, who has power over the elements of nature. There are many mantra and strotas in Hindu scripts to win or get protected from Dakini, Shakini and others. The chief deity who has control over Dakini and others a is Hanuman. The Vichitra Veer Hanuman Stroram, sung in praise of Vichitra Veer Hanuman, a ferocious form of Lord Hanuman, clearly mentions the negative elements over whom He has control :- ...prakat vikram veer daity danav yaksha graha bandhnay bhut graha bandhanay pret grah bandhnay pishach grah bandhnaye shakini dakini graha bandhay kakini kamini graha bandhnay braham graha bandhnay brahmrakshas graha bandhnay...[9] Besides there are many other Hanuman mantras to win over a dakini.[10][11] among which famous ones are Panchamukhi Hanuman Kawacham[12] and Saptamukhi Hanuman Kawacha.[13] Hindus also recite Sri Sudarshana Kawacha, a Sanskrit shloka or kawacha sung in praise of Vishnu and named after his weapon Sudarshana Chakra to get protection or dispel dakinis and others.[14] and Devi Kavacham sung in praise of Durga[15][16]
Further, Dakini, Shakini, Kakini, Kamini are as per Hindu Tantra are also the shaktis or power who control the different Chakras.[17] Thus dakinis are the guardians of the deeper mysteries of the self, and it is through them that the secrets of inner transformation are opened. Once a person is able to awaken Kundalini and move it from its base, Muladhara to top Sahastradhar, he becomes a Yogi.
A Daka is the same as a Dakini but in its male embodiment or to be identified as consort of Dakini. The most famous instance of consort yoga in Tibetan Tantra involved its founder, the Indian Mahasiddha Padma Sambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal, a Tibetan princess. However, Daka is only a masculine term. The consort of Dakini is actually a Yogi.[18][19] In Sanskrit there is only one word, Dakini. There are only female Dakinis[20]
