The dakini, the female figure of enlightenment in Buddhism

Buddhism, and religion in general, at first glance does not seem to be very abundant in female figures in its highest domes. However, in the case of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism we have an important presence of femininity in its most sublime aspect -enlightenment-, which embodies the dakini (khandro, in Tibetan, literally «the one that goes through the sky»). The enigmatic figure of the dakini is revered, desired and even feared, forming one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures in mystical-religious thought.

In the pre-Buddhist traditions of India, the dakini was associated with graveyards, with death and transformation. The cremation grounds in India were places where death and life coexisted openly; the rotting bodies were devoured by numerous animals, continuing the cycle of existence. These places were becoming the favorites of tantric practitioners such as Padmasambhava and Saraha, two of the main mahasiddhas of the tantric tradition, who received important teachings from dakinis. Padmasambhava, one of the main people responsible for installing Buddhism in Tibet, in turn, left teachings to the dakinis, such as his own consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, a princess who obtained enlightenment and who is revered as the dakini of wisdom. , archetype of all dakinis.

In general lines it is considered that the dakinis are «feminine principles of wisdom that manifest in feminine form to help beings», as explained by the teacher Chadud Tulku. The way in which they help human beings transcends our ideas of appropriate behavior, since for dakinis good social customs are the least of it: what it is about is helping to achieve enlightenment or awakening. This is why many times they manifest in their angry or wrathful forms, responding to the need to destroy the obstacles of the mind. Its nature is precisely radiant spontaneity.

Buddhist scholar and practitioner Judith Simmer Brown, in her book Dakini’s Warm Breathemphasizes that the dakini is a complex figure, with multiple understandings, but among them it should be mentioned that «the dakini symbolizes the level of personal realization, the sacred aspect of the body… the visionary dimension of the practice and the qualities voids and spaces of the mind itself».

Some of the first translators compared the dakini with the fairies, and there is some of it, but it can also be compared with the muses and nymphs. Spiritual practitioners, men and women, await your visit to advance their practice and receive visions. The dakinis are also associated with the protection and decoding of certain secret texts known as tërmas, being themselves depositories of the great legacy of Guru Rinpoche, the Second Buddha (according to the tantric practitioners of Tibet).

The dakini is the unity of emptiness and bliss or of emptiness and luminosity. He acts completely spontaneously, having stopped his own mind and having freed himself from discursive, conceptual thinking. It is the pure gnostic radiation of space. The game of divine manifestation. Although there are certain characteristics to identify a wisdom dakini (such as her third eye), it is said that women are actually dakinis -potential Buddhas- and in tantra they are revered as the most sacred, being the pristine manifestation of wisdom. , which is equal to emptiness.