It's not really related to anything else we've discussed, but two or three years ago I stumbled across the most remarkable Buddhist deity. Her name is Vajrayogini, and that's a picture of her up above.
What's so special about her, besides the utterly mind-blowing picture? I think she might be a key figure to help communicate what I used to see in "high-maintenance" women.
Vajrayoginī's essence is "great passion" (maharaga), passion that is pure - free of ego’s deceptions and illusions. Because of her purity she is able to work for the well-being of others and for the destruction of all ego clinging. She is seen as being ideally suited for people with strong passions, providing the way to transform those passions into enlightened virtues. She is visualized in the form of a naked 16-year-old female with red skin, a third eye of wisdom, and numerous other symbolic attributes such as a curved knife and either a skull cup or a damaru. Her fierce yet blissful demeanor conveys numerous spiritual attributes.
And yes, that's part of what I saw and was trying to reach, to touch somehow. Think back to the very first sonnet that I wrote for D: I was trying to show the linkage that I saw—the overlap, the mutual reinforcement, almost-but-not-quite the identity—uniting her sexual passion, the driving energy of her high-maintenance personality, and a kind of raw holiness. Years earlier, I had seen something of that in Wife, too. It's part of why I married her, even though I knew from the beginning it was going to be hard. But I felt that in some way she had been touched by divinity, and that this came out in her crazy rages and in her libido. (See, among others, this post and this one.)
What else do we know about Vajrayogini? Buddha Weekly writes of her as follows:
Vajrayogini has been called the “Buddha for our times.” Many of the great Mahasiddhas, such as Naropa, attained realizations through her practice.... Of all the Vajrayana meditative deities, Vajrayogini is credited with being the one practice for our busy, hectic, terrifying times which can lead us, in one lifetime, to Enlightenment....
Simply put, Her visualization, Her appearance, Her mantra, Her sadhana, are all designed to counter our modern obstacles — especially the obstacles of our degenerate times. In our modern age, when we have no time, when life is always in the way of practice, when we struggle with many fears — terrorism, global warming, wars, paying the bills, healing our sickness — these are all the reasons to consider Her practice. Vajrayogini manifests in her fiery red, passionate, stunning beautiful and energetic form. Fast action. Fast practice. An appearance that is instantly modern and relatable....
She specifically manifests for these times — She is at once more intimate, closer to us, and more relatable than, for example, a serene peaceful Buddha. The serene, peaceful Buddha conjures the feeling of six years of renunciation under a tree meditating. In today’s world, how can anyone contemplate such a commitment?
In other words: her practice is Quik-n-Easy™, it integrates with daily life, and—supposedly—it can bring you Enlightenment in a single lifetime (along with good luck and special powers). Wow, that all sounds cool.
But what strikes me, still is the integration of passion with holiness. Passion so often looks like the product of egoism, or of selfishness: I feel passionate because I want to get that thing for me! But Vajrayogini's passion—if I understand all this right—is so white-hot intense that it burns away all selfhood, that it is pure. I always thought that should be possible, but I never knew of any religion that taught it. I'm glad finally to have found one.
Of course these days my own supply of passion—whether lust or anger—is running pretty low. (I discussed the first signs of that trend in this post, twelve years ago. I know I've discussed it more recently but I don't remember where. Maybe this post is as good as any.) So I don't expect to take up the Vajrayogini practice. But I wonder what would have happened if I had learned about her decades ago? Would I be Enlightened by now?
If you want to know more, here's a video:
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