Title: Sukhasiddhi

This artwork is part of the series “Make It Rain Fire: Ancient Wisdom Of The Divine Feminine”. 

This deity's name is Sukhasiddhi, who in the Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition, was a former peasant and yogini (female-master yoga practitioner and advanced meditator) who transmuted into a ‘dakini’ (an energy form occupying higher celestial realms, in Tantric Buddhism).

Sukhasiddhi was born in the Kashmir region, and belonged to a family of humble means. She and her husband lived with their six children in the Western city of Moslem, where the family experienced rough times.

It is said that at age 59, Sukhasiddhi’s husband along with her three sons and three daughters left the household in search for food, leaving the housewife behind, along with their very last meal: a jar of rice that was to be cooked during an emergency.

While the family was gone, a beggar approached the home and asked Sukhasiddhi for food, and out of compassion, she gave the poor man the jar of rice, believing her husband and kids will come back with food. Upon hearing the news, the family –who were not able to find food- became angry and expelled Sukhasiddhi from the household. The now-homeless peasant woman, traveled west to the city of Uddiyana -in Sanskrit, and Orgyen in Tibetan; a place believed to be the homeland of the great Buddhist masters, where male adepts were believed to be dakas, and female adepts believed to be dakinis... So naturally, anyone who settled in the city, was potentially a clear-minded student of wisdom.

Once there, Sukhasiddhi established herself as a brewer, becoming a successful beer seller. After a while there, she eventually met master Birwapa, who was living in a nearby forest. Upon learning about Birwapa, Sukhasiddhi, out of devotional respect, sent the master beer and pork as reverential offerings. Birwapa was moved by the humble peasant's actions,  and guided her deliverance from the realms of samsara through wisdom meditation.

It is said that once the student and the master met, Birwapa taught her the secret practices, and in just one evening, Sukhasiddhi became enlightened and transmuted into a wisdom dakini. At the time she became homeless, Sukhasiddhi was 59 years old; she was brewing beer at 60, and became enlightened at 61 years old.

Upon receiving instruction from her teacher and becoming instantly enlightened, her 61 year-old physical body purified itself and transformed into the body of a youthful maiden. She then, meditated in the sky for seven days: her mind was liberated within a state of luminosity, and her body became an empty form, like a clear diamond, and thus obtaining Buddhahood.

The name of Sukhasiddhi, in Tibetan means “blissful-accomplishment” and she is related to auspiciousness.

Sukhasiddhi is one of two women who reached realization, as any of the great masters, but without the drama associated with the karmic order. In other words, the path to enlightenment does not necessarily have to be an agonizing struggle.

Hence, practitioners of this Buddhist tradition upon learning Sukhasiddhi’s story, hold the possibility of instant enlightenment as an option.

In the present painting, Sukhasiddhi is shown in the aspect of a White Khechari (spiritual energy form), which uses sexual drive as the fuel that transmutes raw vitality into desire for enlightenment. She is depicted floating in space (dakinis are believed to exist in transcendental spaces beyond thought), in a state of non-referential awareness. Her legs are wide open and reveal her vulva (the womb of the Universe) symbolic of the potential fertility for enlightenment, as well as re-birth. She is the bearer of pleasure, meant to tempt the student into enjoyment of spirituality.

As an enlightened being, Sukhasiddhi displays a third eye (in the space between the eyebrows); this represents direct vision of the unity of ultimate reality. The third additional eye sees inward, and the two usual eyes see the outer world.

 

SYMBOLISM: Her head-dress consists of a five-skull tiara, signifying the overpowering of the cycle of death, which is to be embraced instead of resisted. In the Buddhist tradition, skulls represent the concept of emptiness, aiming to exemplify the hollowness of experience in the physical world, regardless of the meaning we may try to impose upon it. Experienced phenomena is neutral, until we give it meaning.

These symbols are meant to lead the individual to the realization that misguided mental processes, keep people bound to the illusory appearance world. Things may not be as bad as they appear to be. There is nothing to fear, once you realize the emptiness.

The five points of the crown, represent the five main afflictions: anger, greed, pride, envy and ignorance, conquered and transmuted into five wisdoms, and ultimate reality.

She wears a garland of severed heads, which represents the conquering of worldly passions, as each head represents killed negative behaviors: anger, addiction, lust, boredom, etc, as well as the portrayal of her wrathful aspect.

She also wears a flower necklace, belt and bracelets, which  portray her peaceful demeanor.

On her right hand, she holds a vajra-handled curved knife also known as a ‘Vajra Chopper’ or ‘Kartika’ - which symbolizes the sharp edge of wisdom that butchers spiritual and intellectual defects blocking the path to enlightenment. Such defects include ignorance, pride, envy, revenge, etc. The curved knife is meant to represent the cutting of all negative aspects held within oneself, and thus the destruction of the ego, which is represented by the brains and other sense organs in the skull cup (kapala) held on her left hand. Wisdom destroys the ego. A Kapala (Sanskrit for "skull") or skull-cup is a cup made from a human skull used as a ritual object in both Hindu Tantra and Buddhist Tantra (Vajrayana). Especially in Tibet, they were often carved or elaborately mounted with precious metals and jewels. It is held on her left hand and contains the essential elixir of insight into voidness; when full of blood, it represents the purification of egotism by thinking ‘outside the box’ through will power and concentration.

Sukhasiddhi floats amidst a flaming ring of fire, representative of sacred purification, as well as the outer limits of the known universe.

When setting out on the spiritual journey, passing through the purification ring is necessary in order to reach a sacred space, as the symbolic fire burns ignorance, the obstacle to achieving realized understanding. The ring of fire contains the sphere of illumination, source of all wisdom and divine realm.

 

To all whom read this, may there be auspiciousness.

 

Certificate of Authenticity included.

 

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