Vajrakilaya and Vajrakilayi

Vajrakilaya and his consort, Vajrakilayi, are standing on the solar disk of an open lotus flower that represents final illumination. Gods of the mortal realm are being crushed beneath their feet, meaning that the Wisdon that Vajrakilaya represents is beyond time and space, transcends the mortal realm, and is beyond any limitation. The Deity is literally bursting out of human form in an explosion of consciousness.

Vajrakilaya’s dark blue represents the infinite spacious void. Vajrakilayi’s lighter blue represents the essence of compassion missing with that blue void of Vajrakilaya. They are in sexual union. It is the fusion of Masculine and Feminine, of compassion and wisdom, of emptiness and bliss. Inside the open mouth of Vajrakilaya is a rolling tongue, and he is roaring Wisdom.

The three heads of Vajrakilaya represent the subtle energetic currents of the body—solar, lunar and, in the center, the spine or kundalini, also known as the pingala, the ida and susumna. Vajrakilaya wears the skins of an elephant, a human, and a tiger. The elephant skin represents the supreme conquest of sloth. The human skin represents the supreme conquest of ignorance. And the tiger skin represent the supreme conquest of passion. Vajrakilaya has wings of indestructible meteorite iron, and wears decorations of human bones (white ornaments).

The form of the Deity is decorated by crowns and garlands of skulls. In tantric Buddhism, the skull always represents non-dual realization and white bliss void. The Dakini Vajrakilayi holds a skull cup of boiling blood. The blood is meant to boil as the energy released in liberation is incredibly strong.

In the lower left hand of Vajrakilaya is a trident or Khatvanga, representing the Trinitarian symbol of wisdom and of the conquest of the three stages of time—past, present and future. In his upper closed and lower opened right hands are double dorjes. His central hands hold a Phurba, a tantric weapon used for severing the emotional fetters or bonds that accumulate above and below the heart Chakra. Using this instrument, he pierces the knots or nadis (the psychic knots). He is rolling the Phurba between his palms to pierce through the heart.

In the Deity visualization practice, one would visualize millions of golden Phurbas entering the body through each pore of the skin and cutting the knots and diffusing into golden light in the heart Chakra.

In the upper left hand, Vajrakilaya holds a wisdom flame that represents purification. He reveals a blazing purifying fire. His hair is a mess of flames. The Deity is further decorated by severed heads in various stages of decomposition as each stage represents the conquest of a samsaric mind set.

The landscape is wrathful, sharp and boiling, like the Deity. At the feet of the Deity is an offering shelf of the five senses. Skulls filled with blood, boiling from the nearby flames of wisdom. A tongue, representing taste; a nose, representing smell; a heart, representing touch as the heart responds to touch; eyes, representing sight; and ears, representing hearing. These bodily parts are held in place by a magic tantric arrow. This central offering is known as the wrathful offering of the five senses.

A practice would be to gaze at the image with enough attention to receive transmission.