Simhavaktra or Simhamukha
Simhavaktra or Simhamukha, the 'lion-faced' dakini, is a wrathful aspect of the wisdom goddess Jnanadakini, whose practices are employed within many Vajrayana traditions for removing obstacles and prolonging life.
Simhamukha stands in dancing bow-and-arrow posture, with her right leg drawn up and her extended left foot trampling upon two corpses that lay upon the sun disc of her lotus. Her body is dark blue in colour, and her head is that of a roaring white lion with an upward-flowing orange mane.
She is adorned with both jewel and bone ornaments, a tiger-skin loincloth, a necklace of fifty freshly severed heads, and a skull crown. Her right arm is extended upward as she holds a vajra-handled curved knife, which she circles towards the ten directions. With her left hand she holds a skull-cup full of blood in front of her heart, while her khatvanga rests within the crook of her arm.
Simhamukha abides within a blazing aura of wisdom fire and she is surrounded by her four directional attendants: white Buddha Simhamukha (east); yellow Ratna Simhamukha (south); red Padma Simhamukha (west), and green Karma Simhamukha (north); each of whom are identical in form to the principal goddess.
At the bottom centre is the red Nyingma protector goddess Ekajati, who has one breast, one tooth, one eye, and one twisted hair-lock. Ekajati holds a corpse club in her right hand and the heart of an enemy in her left. Across the top of the thangka and painted in circular bindus or 'emanation spheres' are the three principal Nyingma deities that represent the three kayas.
Blue Samantabhadra (dharmakaya) with his white consort, Samantabhadri, is at the centre. White Vajrasattva (sambhogakaya) with his white consort, Vajragarvi, is to the left. And Garab Dorje (nirmanakaya), the first human guru of the Nyingma lineage, is to the right.
text by Robert Beer
