She possesses supernatural powers and wisdom and has taught great Indian and Tibetian yogis. Vajrayogini appeared again and again to the Great Mahasiddha Naropa giving teachings. Naropa, after practicing these teachings attained perfect knowledge and wisdom.

The practice of Vajrayogini is only for the very fortunate and if practiced correctly can lead to Buddhahood in this very lifetime. She is the secret practice of Manjunatha Lama Tsongkapa himself.

This Naro Dakini, holds a vajra chopper in her right hand and a skull-cup upraised in the left. Resting in the crook of her left elbow is a khatvanga staff. Naked and adorned with a tiara of five human skulls, she wears a necklace of fifty dry skulls and is standing with her two feet placed on the bodies of her own emanations – the deities Kalarati and Bhairava.

These are not actual beings but emanated from her qualities and they represent contaminated desire, hatred and ignorance. Her trampling on them symbolizes by her practice we are able to destroy those negative qualities within us and transform ourselves into qualities that benefit others.

On a outer level, her trampling them represents she is able to control and pacify outer obstacles such as accidents, sudden death, negative forces, demons/spirits, and purify the results of our negative actions of the past.

She looks up to the pure realm of Kechara and drinks from the skull-cup held aloft in her left hand. Her looking upwards represents her great capacity that in this life she is able to help us create the circumstances for us to be taken to Kechara Paradise, her divine realm, where even the word suffering does not exist.

She is supremely excellent in many facets of pacification of problems in this life. Increase of merits, wealth, attainments, and general harmony. Her glorious red body is symbolic of her ability to control our mind that creates unhappiness knowingly and unknowingly.

She in her completeness also skillfully benefits practitioners through wrath. When all else fails, she uses wrathful means to subdue inner and outer creations to facilitate all that is necessary to pacify chronic negative results of previous karmic actions.

There are many prerequisites which must be completed before anyone can enter this practice including the compulsory initiation from a qualified Vajrayana Lama. The practice starts with Refuge in the Three Jewels, Guru Devotion, and knowing all the Three Principle Aspects of the path within the three scopes.

Then the fortunate one must receive the tantric initiation of the mandala of either Chakrasamvara, Guhyasamaja or Vajrabhaivara. After meeting these requirements the practitioner is qualified to enter the Mandala of Vajrayogini. Buddhahood is then attainable within this very lifetime.

In Buddhism, Female energy holds a very high position and there is no greater love than that which is represented by mothers, who give swiftly and unconditionally whatever we need. Thus if we listen to our Lama (who represents our mothers), practice Vajrayogini teachings, we receive the love of mothers and supported by her ability to grant us wisdom, we are able to achieve freedom from Samsara within one lifetime.

It is highly beneficial for those initiated and not initiated to make a connection with this extremely potent Vajrayogini Buddha whose blessings become more and more powerful as times degenerate. We can have images of her in the form of statues, carvings, tsatsas, paintings, pictures, and pendants. It is helpful for us to see, think and be exposed to her. Each exposure plants seeds of enlightenment in our mindstream.

Her image pacifies our room or home, clears negative energy and protects from negative interferences. Feng shui that may not be correct in our home, can be corrected by placing a holy image of her. The larger the image, the better, as we will want to make offerings onto her holy body.

Those who have the great fortune to come upon her, be fascinated and even read about her make a connection or even reconnect with her. Her practice is highly recommended as it is efficient, condensed, ’simple’ yet complete and for easily distracted people who ‘profess’ a lack of time, she is perfect.

With perfect motivation, understanding of her profound qualities, clean samaya with our spiritual mentors, and faith in Vajrayogini we are entering into the doorsteps of a vajra palace that leaves inner, outer and secret pains behind.

Praise to Vajrayogini who leads us to Kechara Paradise.

Though in a wrathful form, the Protector is always motivated by compassion and loving care for all sentient beings.

As an Enlightened Buddha, Setrap’s apparent fury is never directed against any beings. Instead, his wrath is directed at destroying our inner and secret defilements of attachment, anger, ignorance and our self-cherishing attitudes which bring us so much suffering.

Utterly opposed to attachment, Setrap acts with objectless equanimity towards all beings. Being the great enemy of anger, Setrap acts with supreme love towards all beings.

Being the victor over ignorance, Setrap directly cognises Emptiness and possesses the highest wisdom that perceives the best manner of liberating all sentient beings. As the antidote to the self-cherishing attitude, Setrap cherishes all beings above Himself.

With sincere prayers and request of His assistance, Setrap is known to accomplish the swiftest destruction of outer, inner and secret obstacles in our path towards Enlightenment.

His spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):

OM MAHA YAK CHA TSA SOHA

Kalarupa displays himself as the direct spiritual protector force for all “ugliness” arising from the true inner spiritual obstacles of fear, hatred, pride and jealousy.

The intense “ugliness” and fierceness of this iconography alone, serves as a teaching to remind us that all the causes and effects of anger arising from ignorance is “ugly”, distorted, even frightening.

We may think that his form is horrible and disgusting on all levels but Kalarupa is actually urging us to consider our appearance to others when we are under the afflictive emotions of fear, pride, jealousy and hatred. From these poisons Kalarupa displays our appearance to others when we use harsh speech and actions.

However, his entire form sits on a lotus to signify that everything he does, no matter how wrathful its appearance, is done out of a deep compassion to help us out of our suffering. He is thus also the opponent of all that is ugly and angersome: following his practice can help us to overcome the angers and desires, which cause others and ourselves to suffer.

As an emanation of Manjushri, Kalarupa’s practice ultimately helps us to destroy ignorance and develop wisdom to overcome our anger and suffering. Anyone, from any lineage who is dedicated to cut out their anger can practice Kalarupa.

However, he is often also known as the special protector of Yamantaka practitioners, where he helps to protect against demons and subdue anger that may arise during Yamantaka retreats. In this way, having Kalarupa in your home is also very good for dispelling bad, harmful spirits and black magic.

His spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):

OM KALARUPA HUNG PHET

Palden Lhamo’s form is that of a fierce female ogress, with jutting teeth and fangs. Her three eyes represent her ability to see into past, present and future realms without any type of obstruction. She is dark blue in colour representing her attainment of great bliss – the realization of emptiness.

Her right hand is in the sky holding a skull cup representing the destruction of obstacles. The skull cup is filled with blood, representing great bliss.

She carries a human-skin bag full of diseases that she collects from those who invoke her. Her legs are in a semi-relaxed posture and chains connect one ankle to the other.

Palden Lhamo is the personal protector of the Panchen Lama and of all fourteen incarnations of the Dalai Lama. She is practiced within all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and she is a fully enlightened Buddha.

Propitiating her and making offerings to her is extremely beneficial to overcome our spiritual and worldly obstacles.

Her spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):

JO RAMO JO RAMO JO JO RAMO TUNJO KALA RACHENMO RAMO AJA DAJA TUNJO RULU RULU HUNG JO HUNG

A unifying aspect of Mahakala is his wrathful demeanor which is about his inner quality of immense compassion like that of a mother displaying a fierce disposition to deter her child from being hurt by playing with fire.

This ferocity also shows his swift nature in response to our heartfelt prayers. Every pore of his body emits jets of flames engulfing his entire body with a spectacular aureole of obstacle-cleansing pure flames.

One of the more popular forms of Mahakala is Four-Faced Mahakala, the Lord of Stainless Wisdom and an emanation of Manjushri, Buddha of Wisdom. His four faces and four arms indicate his realization of the four noble truths.

One arm brandishes the wisdom sword of Manjushri indicating the sword-like capacity of his practice to cut asunder delusions and obstacles. Another hand wields a tantric staff which ends with a trident, representing the transmutation of ignorance, pride and anger, the root causes of our suffering.

Mahakala’s three characteristic bulging eyes stare at opponents with a ferocity that knows no bounds. He holds the skull cup and ritual chopper, symbolizing his immense power of protection for practitioners on their turbulent voyage of spiritual practice.

Propitiated, relied upon and trusted by great masters such as Nagarjuna, Arya Chandrakirti, Lama Tsongkhapa and Kyabje Zong Dorje Chang, four-faced Mahakala is invincible in protecting one’s inner space from maras and from outer interferences. He is the main protector of the Chakrasamvara tantras.

Mahakala’s blessings are especially well-known for quelling difficulties and obstacles arising form anger and depression.

Short mantra:

OM SHRI MAHAKALA HUNG PHET

Long mantra:

OM MAHAKALA KALA BIKALA RATRITA DOMBINI CANDALI RAKSHISI SINGHALI DEVIBHYO HUNG PHET

His face has a stern expression with bushy eyebrows and a beard, and his eyes are wide and round. His body a rich golden yellow in color.

His right hand holds a victory banner, while his left holds a mongoose, commonly associated with good fortune in ancient India. The mongoose spits jewels symbolizing his capacity as a wealth deity.

Vaishravana has two main aspects: that of a warrior protector and that of a deity of wealth. He is one of the primary protectors of the Gelugpa Sect, specifically serving as the Protector of the middle scope of the Lamrim.

In his capacity as one of the Four Directional Guardians, he is often depicted on the outer walls of monasteries and temples, to safeguard against harmful interferences.

His spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):

OM VAISHRAVANA YE SOHA

Sengdongma’s practice is crucially important for our well-being in these difficult times. She is excellent for clearing obstacles of the most pervasive and malignant kind, including spirit disturbances and black magic.

Sengdongma has one face and two arms, and her body is dark blue in colour. Her wrathful lion face is white and slightly turned to the right.

Her right hand holds aloft a ritual chopper and her left holds a white skullcup filled with blood to her heart. She carries a khatvanga staff in the crook of her left hand.

She is adorned with a tiara of five skulls, bone ornaments, a necklace of fifty freshly severed heads and wears a tiger skin skirt. She stands on her left leg with her right leg drawn up in a dancing posture in the middle of a blazing fire of pristine awareness.

Her ferocity and her quick, intense, vibrant energy will counter any negative conditions, sicknesses and misfortune befalling us. Therefore, she provides very powerful and effective protection against harm or magic that has been sent specifically to us.

Her practice is also excellent for destroying obstacles to Dharma practice so that they never disturb the tantric practitioner’s health, wellness or spiritual progress.

Her spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):

AH KHA SAMA RANZA SHANDA RASA MARAYA PHET

With a majestic light-body of dazzling dark blue radiance, Heruka embodies the great bliss of inner transformation, the liberation from ignorance.

By him, the polluted rivers of delusion are transformed into holy waters that run to the sea of surrender. He has four faces, twelve arms, and is in union with his consort, Vajrayogini.

Attaining the state of Buddha Heruka depends upon abandoning the twelve dependent-related links of samsara by gaining the realizations of the four doors of liberation; symbolized respectively by Heruka’s twelve arms and his four faces.

Together with his consort, Vajrayogini, he ultimately represents the union of wisdom and compassion, or Emptiness and Bliss, which leads directly to the Enlightened mind. Heruka’s practice has led many women and men to full awakening within a single lifetime.

As a tantric Buddha, Heruka uses energies such as attachment, anger, desire, hatred as a means to achieving Enlightenment instead of suppressing them. He helps us to redirect our negative energies into something beneficial.

Although he is fully engaged in what appears to be negative, destructive or desirous, everything he does is entirely motivated by his unceasing compassion for sentient beings.

Heruka’s practice is one of the highest tantras in Buddhism and is unique because it is the only Tantra whose effectiveness increases as the times degenerate further. Therefore we are extremely fortunate if we can make a connection with Heruka Chakrasamvara especially in the current Kaliyuga age.

This noble quest of his took a lot of searching with some of the leading spiritual teachers of his time. But alas, he would not find the answer with them or with subsequent popular extreme ascetic practices of his day.

He eventually found it while meditating under a Bodhi tree. He thus became the Awakened One, or the Buddha.

Images of him frequently depict him sitting crossed legged in full meditation, his right hand lightly touching the ground beneath him. This is symbolic of how Buddha responded to the challenge of Mara’s claim over the ground beneath him.

Buddha invoked the earth to bear witness to the truth and virtue of his words and actions through countless aeons that earned him the right to sit and meditate there.

Buddha thus constantly reminds those who take refuge in him to cultivate virtues of the six paramitas of giving, patience, concentration, wisdom, morality and perseverance. His left hand cradles a begging bowl in a meditative pose.

For the rest of his life, the Buddha was a mendicant and lived on food offerings by various lay devotees. Buddha didn’t just teach renunciation, he actually practiced it. Spiritual practice as he taught it was not mere words but a living example to inspire his disciples then and even now.

By employing skilful means to his teaching, the Buddha taught about eighty four thousand teachings, each to benefit all possible dispositions and levels of spiritual development of his followers. That is why his teachings are likened to healing medicine for the mind.

Buddha had many disciples who took his teachings to heart and spread it worldwide into the different forms of Buddhism we know today. But all look to the historic Shakyamuni Buddha as the founder and original guru of Buddhism.

His spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):

OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNI SHAKYAMUNI YE SOHA

Adored throughout eastern Asia, devotees of Amitabha, Amitayus or Amida (as known in Japan), pray to be reborn from a Lotus in his Pure Land.

As the Buddha of Infinite Life and Infinite Light, Amitayus has special popularity amongst Buddhist practitioners due to the infinite benefits that can be received, the immediate result being the feelings of peace and joy within us.

In the sutras, Buddha Shakyamuni, at the request of Manjushri explained that before enlightenment Amitabha or Amitayus had made 12 great vows to benefit and help sentient beings. Thus Amitayus functions as the Buddha of Increase, not just for long life, but also in all things beneficial to our lives.

Outwardly, his practice grants us an abundance of necessities, good health, helpful friends, good family and good living conditions. Inwardly, we attain a greater understanding of Dharma, by practicing Morality within the Three scopes. And Secretly, we reduce the habituations of a self cherishing, grasping mind.

Thus, Amitayus helps us to dispel the darkness of Ignorance and to attain Wisdom and Compassion, which is represented in this icon by the father-mother union.

Amitayus usually holds a long-life vase filled with the nectar of immortality, the elixir of eternal life. It is a very significant and auspicious practice for Dharma students to offer Amitayus to their Lamas, as a request for the Lamas to live long and to spread the doctrine of the Buddha to the world.

His spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):

OM AMARANI ZEWONG DEYEE SOHA