Dakini

Etymology

The Sanskrit term ḍākinī is related to ḍīyate 'to fly', as in uḍḍayanam 'flight'. The Tibetan khandroma (མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་), meaning 'sky-goer', may have originated from the Sanskrit khecara (of the same meaning), a term from the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra. The masculine form of the word is ḍāka, which is usually translated into Tibetan as pawo 'hero' (Wylie: dpa' bo).

In Chinese, ḍākinī is transcribed mainly as 荼枳尼 (túzhǐní), 荼吉尼 (tújíní), or 吒枳尼 (zhāzhǐní); other less common alternative transcriptions include 陀祇尼 (tuóqíní), 吒祇尼 (zhāqíní), 吒幾爾 (zhājǐěr), and 拏吉尼 (nájíní). It is also translated as 空行母 (pinyin: kōngxíngmǔ; lit. 'sky-going mother'), a calque of the Tibetan term. In Japanese, these transcriptions are all read as dakini (ダキニ) or dākinī (ダーキニー).

In Hinduism

As demonesses

In certain passages in Hindu Purāṇic literature, ḍākinīs are depicted as flesh-eating demonesses in the train of the goddess Kālī. For instance, in the Shiva Purāṇa (2.2.33), Vīrabhadra and Mahākāḷī at Shiva's command march against Prajapati Daksha accompanied by the Nine Durgas and their fearsome attendants, namely "Ḍākinī, Śākinī, Bhūtas, Pramathas, Guhyakas, Kūṣmāṇḍas, Parpaṭas, Caṭakas, Brahmarakshasa, Bhairavas and Kṣetrapālas." In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (3.41.30), Paraśurāma sees ḍākinīs among Shiva's retinue (gaṇa) in Mount Kailash.

In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (10.06.27–29), after the young Krishna had killed the demoness Pūtanā, the cowherd women (gopis) of Vrindavan carry out protective rites to keep him safe from future harm. At the end of the ritual, they declare:

The Dākinīs, the Yātudhānīs, the Kūṣmāṇḍas, the infanticides, the goblins [Bhūtas], the Mātṛs, the Piśācas, the Yakṣas, the Rakṣasas, the Vināyakas, Kotarī, Revatī, Jyeṣṭhā, Pūtanā, and other Mātṛkās, Unmāda, Apasmāra, and other devils inimical to the mind, the body and the senses, and other evil omens and calamities dreamt of, and the slayers of the old and the young,—may these and all other evil spirits be destroyed, being terrified at the recital of the name of Viṣṇu.

As a goddess

Other texts meanwhile apparently use 'Ḍākinī' as the name of a goddess. In the Lalitopākhyāna ("Narrative of [the goddess] Lalitā") section of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Ḍākinī is one of the deities who guards the chariot of the boar-faced goddess Daṇḍanāthā, one of Lalitā's generals.

Seven deities called Dhātunāthās were stationed in their respective places beneath the same step. They were Yakṣiṇī, Śaṅkhinī, Lākinī, Hākinī, Śākinī, Ḍākinī and (another) Hākinī who had the united (and combined) forms of all of them. All these demonstrated the exploits of their mighty arms. They appeared ready to drink (i.e. destroy) all living beings and the Earth. They drank and consumed the seven Dhātus, essential ingredients, of the body (viz. the blood), skin, flesh, fat, bones, marrow and the semen of enemies. They had hideous faces. With their harsh leonine roars they filled ten-quarters. They were called Dhātunāthās and they were the bestowers of eight Siddhis beginning with Aṇimā (minuteness).

They were experts in deluding, slaying, paralysing (stupefying), striking, swallowing, and exterminating the wicked Daityas. In regard to those who are habitually devout, they were competent to annihilate all adversities. They were called Dhātunāthās (since) they were present in all Dhātus (essential secretions of the body).

A chapter detailing the mode of worship of the goddess Kubjikā contained in the Agni Purāṇa instructs that the goddesses "Ḍākinī, Rākinī, Kākinī, Śākinī, and Yakṣiṇī should be worshipped in the six directions (coming) from the north-west."

In Tantric literature, Ḍākinī the goddess is usually associated with the saptadhātus (the seven primary constituent elements of the human body) or the six chakras. The Kubjikāmata Tantra for instance enumerates seven yoginī goddesses (Kusumamālinī, Yakṣiṇī, Śaṅkhinī, Kākinī, Lākinī, Rākinī, and Ḍākinī) to whom the ritual practitioner symbolically offers his semen, bones, marrow, fat, flesh, blood and skin, respectively. A nearly identical listing of goddesses can be found in a later text belonging to the same tradition, the Śrīmatottara Tantra: here, the names listed are Dākinī, Rākinī, Lākinī, Kākinī, Śākinī, Hākinī, Yākinī and Kusumā. Another chapter in the Kubjikāmata Tantra lists two sequences of six goddesses, assigned to each of the six chakras: the first denotes the creative "northern course" of the six chakras, from the ājñā down to the ādhāra, while the latter – comprising Ḍākinī, Rākinī, Lākinī, Kākinī, Śākinī and Hākinī – denotes the destructive "southern course", in reverse order.

In Buddhism

As flesh-eaters

In a chapter criticizing meat-eating in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Gautama Buddha refers to dākas and ḍākinīs – described as "terrible eaters of human flesh" – as the offspring of the carnivorous King Kalmaśapada ("Spotted Feet"), who was born after a human king had mated with a lioness.

In East Asian Buddhism, the ḍākinīs are mainly known via the story of their subjugation by the wrathful deity Mahākāla found in a commentary on the Mahāvairocana Tantra (also known as the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra) by the Tang dynasty monk Yi Xing. According to the story, the buddha Vairocana, wishing to stop the ḍākinīs from preying on humans, took the form of Mahākāla, summoned the ḍākinīs before him, and then swallowed them all, declaring that he would release them on the condition that they cease devouring human flesh. When the ḍākinīs complained that this would lead them to starvation, Mahākāla as a concession allowed them to consume the vital essence of deceased humans known as 'human yellow' (人黄, pinyin: rénhuáng, Japanese: jin'ō / ninnō) – an elusive substance (often described as five, six, seven, or ten grains resembling grains of millet, dewdrops or white jade) believed to be found either inside a person's liver, heart or at the top of the head – instead, teaching them a mantra enabling them to know of a person's impending death six months in advance so that they could obtain it before other demons, who also coveted the substance as it conferred various magical powers to the consumer.

[The ḍākinīs'] chief was the yakṣa Maheśvara, who worldly people say is the ultimate [god]. They were subject to Mahākāla, the god called the "Great Black One" (大黑). Vairocana, employing the method of Trailokyavijaya and wanting to exterminate them, transformed himself into Mahākāla, exceeding him in an immeasurable manifestation. His body smeared with ashes in a desolate place, he summoned with his magical art all the ḍākinīs, who had all of the magical powers [such as] flying, walking on water and being completely unhindered. He upbraided them, saying: "Since you alone always devour people, now I will eat you!" Then he swallowed them, but did not allow them to die. Once they have submitted, he released them, completely forbidding them to [eat] flesh. They spoke to the Buddha, saying, "We presently eat flesh to survive. How can we sustain ourselves now?" The Buddha said, "I will permit you to eat the hearts of dead people." They said, "When a man is about to die, the māhāyakṣas and so forth know that his life is exhausted, and they race there to eat him, so how can we get [our share]?" The Buddha said, "I will teach you the mantra procedures and mudrās. You will be able to know six months before someone dies, and knowing this, you should protect him with this method, so he will not fear being injured. When his life has expired, then you can seize and eat [his heart]." In this way, they were gradually induced to embark upon the [Buddhist] path.

In Japanese Buddhism

The ḍākinī imagery arrived in Japan via Kūkai's introduction of Tangmi (East Asian esoteric Buddhism) to the country in the beginning of the 9th century (early Heian period) in the form of the Shingon school. The Womb Realm (Garbhakoṣadhātu) Mandala, one of the two main mandalas of Shingon Buddhism, depicts three ḍākinīs in the southern (right-hand side) part of the mandala's Outer Vajra section (外金剛部院, gekongōbu-in) in the court of Yama (Enmaten in Japanese), next to the Saptamātṛkās and other similar deities. The figures are half-naked and seated on circular mats next to a human corpse. One of the ḍākinīs is shown devouring a human arm and a leg; the other two hold skulls (kapāla) in their right hands, and one holds a chopper in her left hand. All in all, the ḍākinīs represented in this mandala are more akin to the demonesses of Hindu and early Buddhist texts and iconography than the female personifications of enlightenment found in Tibetan Buddhism.

The ḍākinīs were, as per their placement in the Womb Realm Mandala, originally revered as part of Yama's (Enmaten's) retinue, mainly figuring in rituals centered around the deity. A ḍākinī (not yet the medieval Dakiniten), depicted as a long-haired woman holding a bag, also appears in the Enmaten mandalas of the late Heian period as one of the god's attendants. It was after the Insei period of the late 11th to mid-12th century, during which Japan was effectively under the rule of retired ("cloistered") emperors, that a cult centered around the deified ḍākinī as a single goddess named 'Dakiniten' emerged independent of the Enmaten ritual. As the cult of Dakiniten flourished, its rite became famous for being particularly effective for obtaining worldly benefits and was thus especially attractive to the politically ambitious; at the same time, however, the ritual was viewed with suspicion within some circles as a dangerous, "heterodox" (外法, gehō) practice due to its supposed subversive, black magical aspects.

It is difficult to trace the exact origins of the Japanese Dakiniten cult. While a number of medieval texts claim the ritual's lineage started with eminent esoteric masters such as Amoghavajra or Vajrabodhi, the lineage may more plausibly be traced back to 10th century Shingon monks such as the Jingo-ji priest Kengyō (鑒教) or the Tō-ji abbot Kanshuku (観宿, fl. 926–930). Although one legend claims that Saichō, the founder of the Tendai school, brought with him Dakiniten ritual texts from China which he then buried at Mount Hiei, there is actually no historical proof that he or any of the other monks who went to China to study esoteric Buddhism – Kūkai, Jōgyō, Engyō, Ennin, Eun, Enchin and Shuei – brought home any such texts with them, suggesting that the Dakiniten rite developed in Japan well after their time.

In Tibetan Buddhism

Although ḍākinī figures appear in Hinduism and Bon, ḍākinīs occur most notably in Vajrayana Buddhism and especially Tibetan Buddhism. The khandroma, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, acts somewhat as spiritual muse for spiritual practice. Dakinis are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates śūnyatā, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.

The ḍākinī appears in a Vajrayana formulation of the Buddhist refuge formula known as the Three Roots. Sometimes she appears as the dharmapala, alongside a guru and yidam.

The dakini, in her various guises, serves as each of the Three Roots. She may be a human guru, a vajra master who transmits the Vajrayana teachings to her disciples and joins them in samaya commitments. The wisdom dakini may be a yidam, a meditational deity; female deity yogas such as Vajrayogini are common in Tibetan Buddhism. Or she may be a protector; the wisdom dakinis have special power and responsibility to protect the integrity of oral transmissions."

An archetypal ḍākinī in Tibetan Buddhism is Yeshe Tsogyal, consort of Padmasambhava.

Judith Simmer-Brown, based on teachings she received from Tibetan lamas, identifies four main classes of ḍākinī. These follow the twilight language tradition of esoteric Buddhism in referring to secret, inner, outer and outer-outer classes of ḍākinīs.

The secret class of ḍākinī is prajnaparamita (Tibetan yum chenmo), the empty nature of reality according to Mahayana doctrine.

The inner class of ḍākinī is the ḍākinī of the mandala, a meditational deity (Tibetan:yidam) and fully enlightened Buddha who helps the practitioner recognise their own Buddhahood.

The outer ḍākinī is the physical form of the ḍākinī, attained through completion stage tantra practices such as the Six Yogas of Naropa that work with the subtle winds of the subtle body so that the practitioner's body is compatible with an enlightened mind.