Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism

it is inappropriate to pursue mundane thoughts and afflictive emotions while meditating on a deity.

Tertöns are also women, as in the case of the contemporary tertön Khandro Khachi Wangmo, who was considered an incarnate ḍākinī.

The only transformative choice that remains, according to the Vajrayāna, is to take our seat in whatever world we find ourselves in and acknowledge it as a maṇḍala. This means settling into our jobs, our intimate relationships, and our communities, and committing to all of their difficult parts.

In Western communities of sādhana practitioners, gaṇacakra feast offerings have been performed by male and female practitioners together who all understand themselves to be embodiments of the ḍākinī

A second answer relates to the ways in which women’s bodies, psychologies, and minds are linked with the dynamic of wisdom.

Within Tibetan Buddhism there is no real equivalent to “gods” and “goddesses” as existent beings with salvific power.

Tibet is unusual in its successful retention of a vital and energized shamanic dimension with influence upon every aspect of culture,

And human women in particular, by virtue of the fact that their bodies are female, are emanations of the ḍākinī principle in some fashion.

Ḍākinīs make use of symbols. They are skilled in symbols and symbolic replies. They link the ultimate essence to symbolism. Ḍākinīs are the life-force of symbols.25 This means that the ḍākinīs have dominion over the secret treasury of termas,