Offering dakinis in Tibet

Offering dakinis in Tibet

"Sparshavajri"
In the 15th century, at the Mus Tang Lang Jie Temple
"Four Offering Dakinis" Relief Sculpture
Late 14th Century, Dansatse style
Private Collection
མཛེས་ལྡན་མཆོད་པའི་ལྷ་མོ་ཚོགས།
བཀྲ་ཤིས་དབྱིངས་སུ་ཕུར་འགྲོ་བ།
ཡིད་འཕྲོག་ཞིང་གི་རྟགས་མཚན་ཡིན།

Graceful fairies,
Flying to the auspicious realm,
Proof of this dependent world,
Zhuba·Baima Gabor （1527-1592）

"Three Offering Dakinis Relief"
Late 14th century, Dansatasi Temple style
Private collection

 

"Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Mantra Pagoda"
Painted in the mid-to-late 18th century in the imperial court
Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA
Sanctuary One: The first level's dedication to the Celestial Maiden

Personified objects like goddesses
and personified concepts like goddesses

Sanctuary Two: Offering on the Second Level

There are offerings on both the secular level, such as the Seven Precious Objects, and on the religious level, such as the attendants and followers.

Sanctuary Three: Providers on the Third Level

The appearance of providers signifies
that the relationship of giving and receiving transcends images and is permanently established
This is also the real reason for the birth of images.
Imagine a group of sixteen-year-old girls standing together, playing music, dancing, holding offerings, and presenting various sacred objects. In the Buddhist context, these girls, who have resided in the heavenly realms for a long time, are known as "Offering Dakinis"（མཆོད་པའི་ལྷ་མོ་）. Symbolizing "devotion and dedication," the celestial maidens are the most frequently depicted image in the thematic imagery of the pan-South Asian region (embodiments of female beauty). At the same time, they are a subject that is often briefly discussed without going into depth. In religious art, the presentation of fixed relationships (such as the relationship between offerings and recipients) is always a key issue that jumps between real life, classic texts, and various images. From the origins and symbolism behind the offering celestial maidens, to their depiction and combination in artistic expressions, one can see the important role they play in the presentation of relationships. Generally speaking, the existing offering celestial maidens come from four sources: tangible offerings (such as the bathing celestial maiden holding the eight auspicious objects), offering concepts (such as the diamond celestial maiden symbolizing the five desires), preexisting South Asian female deities, and Buddhist-influenced female roles. The offering celestial maidens, created by personifying tangible offerings and concepts, make the depiction of "offering" （མཆོད་པ་）specific practices in images more narrative and spatial.

"The Heavenly Maiden of Fragrant Gold"

Mid-15th century, Ming court work
Collection of Guangdong Provincial Museum

"Tara the Offering Goddess"
13th century, Kathmandu Valley
Located in the Rubin Museum of Art
"The Apsara and the Rakshasa"
Early 15th century, Danzati style
Private collection

This is the border decoration in the layout of the altar city.
The Apsara and rakshasa are two common attendants of the deities.

"The Altar of the Great Illuminating Buddha Tathagata"
Mid-17th century, in the collection of the Rubin Museum
Detail: celestial maidens dancing in the altar city
According to different main deity protocols,
the number and functions of offering to celestial maidens also vary.

The five Vajrayogini goddesses emanating from the Five Delights represent the core combination in the system of offering goddesses. These five goddesses symbolize the five sensory perceptions (i.e. form, sound, smell, taste, touch) and the five sense organs. While they offer their respective offerings to please the deities, they also remind practitioners not to become overly attached to sensory pleasures. The journey from the Five Delights to the Five Aggregates is a process in which practitioners gradually overcome desires and confront the construction of consciousness, leading them towards complete enlightenment. It is important to note that the offerings held by the Five Delights Vajrayogini goddesses may vary, with the Sound Vajrayogini goddess, for example, holding different musical instruments (depending on the region) or performing different types of dance.

The Rubin Museum houses a scroll painting on the theme of offerings, which includes the Eight Auspicious Symbols, the Seven Jewels of a Universal Monarch, as well as various common offering goddesses. Based on existing literary evidence, it is known that this work is related to the ritual of offering in the mandala context. Additionally, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Australia holds a set of Zabgayli thangkas related to the yoga practice of the direct disciple of the Ganden tradition, which includes a detailed image of offering goddesses.

Mandala Offering Scroll from the 19th Century, in the collection of
the Rubin Museum.
The deity Vajrayogini with a mirror symbolizing vision
The mirror represents the essence of emptiness of all things.
Mandala Offering Scroll from the 19th Century,
in the collection of the Rubin Museum.

Symbolizing the sense of hearing with musical instruments
Sound of the Dharma, Celestial Harp
Signifying the essence of sublime joy in practice
It should be Celestial Drum instead of Celestial Harp

"Vajrayogini"
19th century, in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Goddess of Perfume represents the sense of smell,
symbolizing the pure essence of the teachings.
"Taste Vajra dakinis"
19th century, Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Dakini of Taste, symbolizing the essence of wisdom's perfection,
should be translated as the Fruit Dakini.
"The Mandala Offering Scroll" (partial)
19th century, Rubens Museum collection
The Vajrayogini, adorned in robes and colored ribbons, symbolizes touch expressing the essential nature of the Three Jewels.
Apart from the five Vajra dakinis, another relatively independent group of celestial goddesses is the "Eight Offering Dakinis" (བཀྲ་ཤིས་མཆོད་པའི་ལྷ་མོ་བརྒྱད་). They combine with the five Vajra dakinis and evolve into various combinations, such as the Sixteen Dakinis, Eighteen Dakinis, and Twenty-three Dakinis. The Eight Offering Dakinis originally are female deities from South Asia, who gradually became the secret companions of eight bodhisattvas in the esoteric tradition. According to ritual texts of South Asian indigenous and early esoteric traditions, they are respectively: the Sublime Manifold Goddess (སྒེག་མོ་མ་; लास्य/Earth Treasury Mother), the Mala-holding Dakinis (ཕྲེང་བ་མ་; माला/Akasagarbha Mother), the Chanting Dakinis (གླུ་དབྱངས་མ་; गीता/Vajrapani Mother), the Dancing Dakinis (གར་མཁན་མ་; नृत्य/avalokiteshvara Mother), the Flower-offering Dakinis (མེ་ཏོག་མ་; पुष्प/Aparajita Mother), the Incense-offering Dakinis (བདུག་སྤོས་མ་; धूप/Maitreya Mother), the Lamp-offering Dakinis (མར་མེ་མ་; आलोक/Mahasthamaprapta Mother) and the Perfume-applying Dakinis (དྲི་ཆབ་མ་; गन्ध/Manjushri Mother). It is important to note that in Tibetan classics, the most commonly described group is the Sixteen Offering Dakinis. This is not only because they embody the essence of the "offering concept," but also because they are closely related to the mandala space. Common grouping includes the Joyful Maidens representing the realization of the essence of dharma, the Dancing Maidens representing successful endeavors, the Offering Maidens representing the union of emptiness and bliss, and the Desire Maidens representing the fundamental practice.
"The Mandala Offering Scroll" (partial)
19th century, Rubens Museum collection
 Flowers dakinis
"The Mandala Offering Scroll" (partial)
19th century, Rubens Museum collection
Incense-burning dakinis
"The Mandala Offering Scroll" (partial)
19th century, Rubens Museum collection
Singing dakinis
"The Mandala Offering Scroll" (partial)
19th century, Rubens Museum collection
Graceful dakinis

The realm of offering beyond phenomena

This article is translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog.

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