Understanding the Tantric Tradition’s 3 Major Deities. "The 41st Sakya Trizin was born in 1945 into Sakyapa, one of Tibetan Buddhism’s four lineages. His parents and a sister then died in quick succession, leaving him and his surviving sister, Sakya Jetsun Chimey Luding, with their aunt, who trained them to teach. In 1959 the family moved to Rajpur, India, where Sakya Trizin established the Sakya Center, a nunnery, hospital, college, followed by many centers around the world. He married in 1974, and his two sons went on to became teachers themselves. Today, Sakya Trizin heads the Sakya lineage. His U.S. seat is at Tsechen Kunchab Ling in Walden, New York. Sakya Jetsun Chimey Luding settled in Vancouver, Canada, and founded Sakya Kachod Choling on San Juan Island, in Washington State. Lex Hixon: We have with us in the studio His Holiness Sakya Trizin, the 41st head of the 900-year-old Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. The Sakya Order has a tradition of married lamas, and His Holiness himself is married with several children. Yesterday, His Holiness gave a seminar on the feminine principle here in the city. We thought we would continue that discussion here on the air, so all of you can hear while sitting comfortably at home. The Dharma is so compassionate that it will even come into your own home and reveal itself to you. Your Holiness, it became clear during the seminar that the Tibetan Tantric tradition has a special feeling for the feminine aspects of reality. To explain this to the people who are listening, we’ll need to use some technical Tibetan terms, but we’ll try to make it very clear. There are three forms of transcendent, feminine deities: the yidam, dakini, and dharmapala. Could you describe each of them? Perhaps we could begin with the yidam; as I understand it, Tara is a yidam. Sakya Trizin: Yes, that’s true. Yidam means an emanation or manifestation of the Buddha. In order to help different types of people and situations, the Buddha takes different forms. Some yidams are in wrathful form, some yidams are in peaceful form, and some yidams are female deities, like Tara. Yidams are different forms of the Buddha. Lex Hixon: Buddhanature, I suppose, must be something neutral—beyond gender, beyond name, beyond form. Why does this pure buddhanature take the form of a feminine deity such as Tara? Sakya Trizin: It is true that in the ultimate state, there is no such thing as female and male gender, but for people who have not reached that state, who are still thinking in terms of male and female, it may be more powerful and helpful to concentrate on female deities; and for some people, it may even be more helpful to concentrate on wrathful deities. Lex Hixon: The other example you gave at the seminar of a yidam deity was that of the Vajrayogini. Could you describe Tara and the Vajrayogini and their differences? Sakya Trizin: The main manifestation of Green Tara is actually a very peaceful one. Tara is more for helping develop common siddhis [someone who has attained enlightenment or a paranormal power possessed by a siddhi], for instance, to prevent disasters and to protect you from evil on the path. If you use it for your own personal benefit, that is not the right way. It is for achieving the ultimate goal and helping all beings. You need a long life and wealth and health for that. If you are involved in Tara’s blessings for that reason, that is the right idea, but it is not just for the worldly benefits. It’s like asking a great emperor to sweep the house. All these deities came, of course, from the Vajrayana or the Tantra tradition. There are four different classes of Tantra. Tara actually comes into all of the four different classes of Tantra, whereas Vajrayogini is only in Anuttara Yoga Tantra, which is the highest class of Tantra. They are both, in reality, Prajna Paramita, or the ultimate transcendental wisdom, but in form they are very different. The main emphasis of Vajrayogini, of course, is only achieving enlightenment for the benefit of others. Lex Hixon: Can you describe each of these yidams? Sakya Trizin: Actually, Vajrayogini has many different forms, but the one we normally use is in between wrathful and peaceful. She is usually in the red color, with one face and two hands holding a curved knife and skull cup filled with nectar and she is adorned with bone ornaments. All these different ornaments and objects have many very deep meanings. The curved knife usually represents the fact that she cuts all defilements. The cup represents what in Sanskrit is called mahasukha, which means “the great bliss.” She is in a complete state of great bliss all the time. Tara usually has her right hand in what we call the “giving gesture.” She is bestowing siddhis on all beings. The left one is holding the utpala flower, which represents the many qualities of the Buddhas. Lex Hixon: In the Tantric meditation, there’s a union or identity that the meditator experiences with these deities. Could you explain that? People might think that these deities were essentially outside or separate. Sakya Trizin: Yes, that’s right. Actually these deities are the symbol, or the manifestation, of the ultimate truth. The female deities are more on the wisdom side and the male deities are more on the method [compassion] side. But the ultimate, actual transcendental knowledge of wisdom is the complete union of these two things. So they are not really separate. And this great Dharmadatu, or transcendental wisdom, is actually with everyone, within every sentient being. But we haven’t realized this, so we are thinking in an ordinary way about everything that we see, everything we do. Therefore we cling to this present scene that we have. When you cling to this, then naturally the defilements arise because we take actions based on this present scene, and due to this, we are again and again surrounded by Samsara [the cyclic round of worldly existence]. The main method that is used in Vajrayana is to stop seeing things as ordinary. So you should see all these things as transcendental wisdom and oneself in the form of a deity, and all sounds as mantra, and every thought that comes as transcendental knowledge. Although at the moment you are just visualizing, you are just imagining, gradually your attachment to the ordinary vision loosens and you strengthen your path in the Vajrayana tradition." Läs hela den intressanta artikeln här: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/understanding-the-3-major-deities-of-the-tantric-tradition/