Vajrayogini (Tibetan Dorje Naljorma) is a female Buddha and one of the most important meditation deities of Tibetan Buddhism, described as complete Buddhahood in female form. Her practice comes from the Chakrasamvara cycle of tantras, in which she is Chakrasamvara's consort, and she is practised on her own in the Sakya and Kagyu schools and widely in the Gelug school.
How she is shown
- Red and youthful: texts describe her as sixteen years old, the prime of youth. Her red is linked with the inner fire of her practice.
- One face with three eyes, said to see past, present and future.
- Her left hand raises a skull cup to her lips. Drinking from it stands for her experience of great bliss.
- Her right hand holds a curved knife pointing downward, which cuts through delusion.
- A khatvanga, a staff topped with a vajra and hung with a small drum and a bell, rests on her left shoulder. It stands for her consort, Chakrasamvara.
- A crown of five skulls and a long garland of skulls or freshly severed heads, depending on the lineage, and bone ornaments. Otherwise she is unclothed: free of worldly concerns and the illusions of ego.
- Two figures beneath her feet, black Bhairava and red Kalaratri, as in Chakrasamvara's paintings.
- A ring of flames around her: the fire of wisdom.
Her forms
Tibetan tradition knows several lineages of her practice, named after the Indian masters who passed them on, Naropa and Maitripa among them. The best known is Naropa's, and her form in it is called Naro Khechari (Tibetan Naro Khachöma): striding, with the skull cup at her lips and her face turned upward toward her pure land, Khechara. In the style that spread in the Gelug school through Pabongkha Rinpoche, she looks down toward beings instead.
She is closely related to Vajravarahi, "the vajra sow", who is often treated as a form of Vajrayogini. Vajravarahi usually dances rather than strides, and has a small sow's head in her hair: see our Dorje Phagmo guide. With Chakrasamvara she forms the central pair of his mandala.
Vajrayogini in Nepal
The Kathmandu Valley has several old Vajrayogini temples, among them those at Sankhu and at Pharping, south of Kathmandu. They are Newar Buddhist temples and are also visited by Tibetan pilgrims. The Pharping temple is said to have been founded by two brothers who were disciples of Naropa and Maitripa.
In a painting
Look for a supple, balanced stride, and a clear line from the raised skull cup to her lifted face. The red of her body should be even and glowing, with soft shading. The khatvanga with its drum and bell, the skull ornaments and the curved knife are small but should be crisply drawn, and the flames around her lively rather than heavy. Some of our paintings show her in the Naro Khechari form, striding over the two figures before a ring of flames.
To recognise her at a glance: a red female figure with one face, drinking from a skull cup held high in her left hand, a curved knife in her right. Nairatmya holds the same implements but is blue, and Vajravarahi has a sow's head.
