Kraft, Kenneth L. Eloquent Zen: Daitoand Early Japanese Zen.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992.
Levine, Gregory P. “Switching Sites and Identities: The
Founder’s Statue at the Zen Buddhist Temple Korin’in.”
Art Bulletin83, no. 1 (2000): 72–104.
KARENL. BROCKDAKINI
The term dakinlis already seen in the fourth to fifth
centuries B.C.E. in the works of the Sanskrit grammar-
ian, Panini. There, the term refers to a type of flesh-
eating female deity that appears in the retinue of the
goddess, Kal. Over the following centuries, dakinls
continued to be a part of the Indian pantheon, though
only as relatively minor figures. In the eighth century
C.E., however, as Buddhist TANTRAwas taking shape,
dakinlsbegan to acquire a greater importance. Initially
it seems that the term was used to refer to human
women who gathered around sacred sites and rituals.
Portrayed as typically low caste—prostitutes, washer-
women, and the like—these women would serve as
consorts for the male tantric practitioners. These so-
cially liminal women were held to have a mysterious
and dangerous power, and before long dakinlswere
cast as enlightened beings in their own right, Vajrayo-
gin, Vajravarah, and Ekajati being some better known
examples.
The Yogaratnamala(Garland of Jewel-like Yogas), an
Indian commentary on the Hevajra Tantra,derives the
term dakinlfrom the Sanskrit root, dai,meaning “to
fly.” The accuracy of this derivation has been debated
by Western scholars, but it was clearly accepted by Ti-
betans when they chose to translate the term as mkha’
’gro(sky dancer). The dakinlthus described is often
understood as able to move freely through the space
of reality, the DHARMADHATU.
In Tibet, dakinlcan refer either to a living woman
Buddhist teacher or to a spirit of ambivalent nature.
Regarding the latter type, the idea has persisted that
dakinlsare attracted by Buddhist practitioners, drawn
in swarms to powerful meditators like mosquitoes to
blood. Tibetans further distinguish two kinds of
dakinls: gnostic (ye shes) and flesh-eating (sha za), also
called “otherworldly” and “worldly”—the former be-
ing helpful for one’s progress along the Buddhist PATH,
and the latter harmful. Telling one type from the other
is famously difficult, so that, just as was the case in
eighth-century India, dakinlsin Tibet continued to
hold a dangerous power. The Buddhist practitioner’s
difficulty in judging them is made worse by a tendency
for each type to blur into the other, so that a gnostic
dakinlcan suddenly become dangerous, and a flesh-
eating dakinlcan provide assistance. Ultimately, the
meditator is advised not to fall victim to either dualis-
tic conceptualization of these gossamer beings.
The dakinl’s enigmatic nature has helped it to serve
a mercurial role in Tibetan Buddhism, slipping easily
between the human realm and those of the buddhas.
For followers of the RNYING MA(NYINGMA) school,
this role has placed dakinlsat the center of the “trea-
sure” (gter ma) revelation process. A dakinl often
guides the treasure revealer to the discovery site, and
then the treasure teachings themselves are typically re-
ceived in the condensed language of the dakinls(mkha’
’gro skad). Like the dakinlherself, the symbolic sylla-
bles (mkha’ ’gro brda yig) of her language are polyva-
lent, their significance difficult to determine. The
process for decoding these encrypted teachings is a
mysterious one, involving the revealer opening his
body’s cakras to allow the treasury of the Buddhist
teachings to flow forth unimpeded. Thus the dakinl’s
language suggests a shimmering field of possibilities
rather than a single determinate meaning.See also:WomenBibliography
Dowman, Keith. Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of the
Lady Yeshe Tshogye.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul,
1984.
Gyatso, Janet. Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies
of a Tibetan Visionary.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1998.
Klein, Anne. Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
and the Art of the Self.Boston: Beacon, 1995.
Snellgrove, David. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists
and Their Tibetan Successors.Boston: Shambala, 1987.JACOBP. DALTONDALAI LAMAThe position of Dalai Lama, dating in its present form
from the mid-seventeenth century, is a uniquely Ti-
betan institution, embodying the most important sec-
ular and religious presence in Tibet. Dalaiis theDAKINI