What is a 'DAKINI'?

What is a 'Dakini'?
According to some traditions it is the woman who gives Tantric initiation.

This 'Tantric priestess' or 'Dakini' role may go back to ancient matriarchal times, and be one of the 'original' forms of Tantra and it may, or may not, relate directly to ancient sexual rites of the priestesses of the Middle East. 

Perhaps the Dakini wisdom is of one of the various lines of Tantric transmission which we can never know the origin of.

What we do know is that the term Dakini as used in modern Tantra is a gross over-simplification of what was taught in Tantric tradition.

The word Dakini was used in the Puranas but then developed a different meaning in the context of Tibetan Tantra, and again a very different meaning in neo-Tantra.

In Tibetan the term was used to describe a Liberated wise woman, or the consort of a Liberated teacher.

In modern ('neo-')Tantra Dakini is often used to describe a woman who practices or teaches sacred sexuality and sometimes one who engages in Tantric sex as a profession.

See the link below for a rich description according to traditional Tibetan Tantra.


http://www.dakinipower.com/what-is-a-dakini/


For more info on Tantra, see also:
www.TantraMentoring.com