Ultimate Magic

 

Thangka No. 7 - Kurukulla (Red Tara)

HRIH!

From the expanse of ultimate reality,

Your supremely blissful body emerges,

The colour of love and passion,

Resplendent as a dazzling lotus ...

Your compassion is boundless and unchangeable;

Your four arms brandish a hook that summons,

Noose that flings to the unexcelled realm, and

Bow and arrow of wisdom and artful liberation.

Praises to you, beautiful goddess!

-Nyingma ritual prayer

Material: Cotton Canvas, framed in original antique Tibetan silk brocade

Colours: Watercolours, and 24-carat Gold

Size (painting unframed): 39.4 x 59.2 cm

Creation Period: 

around 400 hrs - painted in Nepal and India, completed in August 2014.

Availability: available.

Please send your email enquiry to ariyanandi[at]gmail[dot]com if you are interested in this original. For prints, posters etc. please see under the About Thangkas and How to Order Prints section (sidebar) and visit my online shop Ariya's Thangkas .

Gratitude goes to Miranda Shaw and her wonderful book "Buddhist Goddesses of India", from which I quoted freely a lot of the information gathered on Kurukulla below.

Kurukulla (also known as Red Tara) is a goddess with unlimited powers of enchantment. Her voluptuous body is bright, glowing red, the hue of passion and amorous desire. Glistening with ruby radiance, mistress of the art of seduction, Kurukulla displays the tools of her magical craft: the flowered bow and arrow with which she pierces the hearts of those she would enchant, the noose with which she binds them, and the elephant goad with which she draws them into her sphere of liberation. Kurukulla's magic has the power to sofen the hardest heart, dissolve disharmony, and bestow the highest bliss.

detail: head

ORIGIN ACCOUNT

 

Kurukulla represents the absorption into Buddhism of a popular genre of pan-Indian love magic. Her practice is clearly linked to a popular tradition of love potions and magical spells that were (and still are) dispensed by local folk practitioners. This form of sorcery has ancient roots in India's past. The Atharva Ved tells of many recitations and rites of love magic, including an incantation to pierce the heart of a chosen lover with an arrow, arousing the heat of desire and passionate love. 

]ust as the practices of Kurukulla have roots in Indian love magic, her attributes reflect the influence of deities associated with the broader lndian tradition. Thus, she shares several striking similarities with Kamadeva, the Hindu god of love, who provokes overpowering lust with his fower-tipped arrow. Moreover, in her four-armed Tantric manifestation, she bears an intriguing resemblance to Lalita (a.k.a. Tripura and Tripurasundari) , the great goddess (Mahadevi) of Hindu Tantra. The striking convergence between Kurukulla and Lalita in their red coloration, handheld attributes, and floral adornments introduces the possibility that the Tantric iconography of Kurukulla was patterned on that of her Hindu counterpart. 

Kurukulla's association with love magic and connections with Kamadeva and especially Lalita disclose that her character was profoundly shaped by non-Buddhist elements of lndian culture.

NAME

The etymological derivation of the name Kurukulla is unclear. Indian sources identify it as the name of her mountain dwelling. The name may formerly have been in usage, and Buddhists may have recognized the peak (located in Gujarat) as a sacred site. 

The Tibetan version of her name, Rigdjema, "Mistress of Magic," or "Mistress of Knowledge," is not a literal rendition of the Sanskrit.

SYMBOLIC ATTRIBUTES 

Kurukulla's iconography, as befits the mistress of enchantment, emphasizes the theme of passion. Her characteristic color is red, signifing her ardent nature, for red is associated with passion in Indian culture. The Sanskrit word for red (raga) also denotes inflammation and feelings of attachment, love, and desire. 

Kurukulla's mood, as reflected in her facial expression, is generally characterized as the "amorous sentiment," for hers is the "essence of sweet desire." Her countenance should convey that she is "overwhelmed by desire" and has a "passionate heart," but she is also said to be loving as well as ardorous, for compassion and passion both stem from a deep capacity for sympathy and attachment. This emotional quality can blossom into an impersonal yet devoted affection that anchors an enlightened being in the phenomenal realm, among those who still suffer, to serve their needs with tenderness, empathy, and fervent commitment. Thus, a divinity who is free from personal desire may nonetheless be said to be "attached" to living beings, that is, devoted to their welfare. 

Kurukulla's implements reflect her roles in both ritual subjugation and meditative transformation. Her bow and arrow, appropriate implements for a goddess of enchantment, are used to pierce the hearts of the targets of her magic. The arrow moreover has a long-standing association with the infliction of lust. The Atharva Veda speaks of "arrows of desire." In Buddhist lore, the demon king Mara sought to impassion Shakyamuni with flower-tipped arrows of desire in order to disrupt his meditation. Thus, this classical weapon of emotional ensnarement is artfully wielded by Kurukulla both to captivate and to liberate. She uses her noose, ofen clasped with a threatening gesture, to snare and hurl and her elephant goad to hook and pull. If the aim is to gain a lover, her arrow inflicts the coveted love object with desire, her noose binds them with passion, and her hook draws the captive to the waiting paramour. In other cases, her arrow inflicts someone who is sought as a friend or devotee with geniality, goodwill, and devotion, in a practice that may be used to win over an adversary, placate someone who is angry, or gain a political or military ally. 

detail: implements

At a subtler level of activity, her implements can effect a change in consciousness, transmuting passion into wisdom. She uses her flowery bow and arrow to penetrate the minds of her targets and subjugate their selfish desire and dualistic thought, the hook to summon them into her blissful presence, and the noose to fling her fortunate captives into a higher realm of consciousness. 

She also exhibit attributes shared with other female Buddhas: a dancing dakini pose, intense or impassioned countenance, upward-flaming hair, tiara of skulls, tiger-skin skirt, garland of severed heads, and ornaments of carved bone. 

Floating above Kurukulla on a lotus and surrounded by rainbow light emanating from her heart, is Amitabha, Buddha of the lotus family of the Dhyani (Wisdom) Buddhas. He is red and represents discriminating awareness-wisdom and its (transmuted) opposite, passion or grasping. The Padma (Lotus) Buddha family is associated with the element of fire. 

The amorous mood and sensuous body befitting a goddess of love are augmented in the Tantric conception by wrathful traits appropriate for the "subjugator of the three realms." The corpse or united couple upon which she dances and the severed heads garlanding her body represent persons, situations, and objects she has conquered, as well as mental states she can help the meditator bring under control. The five-pointed crown and bone jewelry signify her possession of the five transcendent insights of a Buddha: immovable concentration, impartial generosity, universal compassion, unimpeded liberative activity, and the ability to mirror reality without distortion.

detail: corpse

MAGIC SUBJUGATION AS A BUDDHIST ART ?

The interests originally served by Kurukulla are admittedly doctrinally alien to Buddhism, with its emphasis on cultivating detachment and freedom from desire. Moreover, Buddhists could not fail to notice that the coercive rites of Kurukulla merit little justification in their ethical system. However, her magical forces were integral to the imaginal, mythic world that Indian Buddhists inhabited. Therefore, the incorporation of a figure such as Kurukulla was a natural development, yet it was also inevitable that her roles should be refined and redefined over time to align them more directly with Buddhist beliefs.

Kurukulla's status in the Buddhist pantheon rose over time. 60 Tantric forms of the goddess now prevail in Tibetan Buddhism. She is important for all the Tibetan sects but has greater prominence in the Sakya school as a patron deity. She was initially introduced as a dharani goddess who presides over rites of love magic, subjugation, and bewitchment. These rituals belong to the incantational and ceremonial strand of Mahayana practice.

However, Kurukulla was eventually elevated to the level of a fully enlightened being, a female Buddha. As such, she also figures as a meditational deity in the highest and most esoteric division of Tantric practices, the Highest Yoga Tantra class, whose goal is the attainment of Buddhahood in the present lifetime. In this status, she is a "female Tathagata", a primordial mother, the equal of Samantabhadri and Vajravarahi.

Her sphere of influence expanded from the the original compulsion of love objects to the conquest of conceptual thought, Buddhist teachings, and primordial awareness itself. Surprising, then, is that the goddess never completely shed her original function and continued to preside over unvarnished rites of subjugation that would surely be condemned in a non-Buddhist context. Both dimensions of Kurukulla' s character were instead integrated in her vocation as a female Buddha whose power of enchantment is her special art of liberation. 

Because Kurukulla is a fully enlightened being, there is no limit to her mastery. She is known as Wangduki Lhamo ("Overpowering Goddess") and as Trailokyavasakari ("Subjugator of the Three Realms"), expressing her dominion over all that is below, on, and above the earth. 

Ultimately, Kurukulla's powers can be directed to the highest goal envisioned by the Buddhist tradition, namely, the transformation of consciousness. Thus, Kurukulla may be chosen as a meditation deity (yidam) by an advanced meditator who seeks to master all phenomena, thoughts, and perceptions; his or her own body, speech, and mind; and supreme peace, ultimate reality, and primordial awareness. 

The final goal to be won through the practice of Kurukulla is enlightenment itself. At this most spiritual end of the spectrum, Kurukulla accomplishes the ultimate form of magic, the transformation of conventional awareness into the transcendent bliss and nondual wisdom of a fully enlightened Buddha.

THE POWER OF LOVE

The secret of Kurukulla's power is that she wields the unconquerable, irresistible force of love. Her heart is a reservoir of this emotion in its most refined form. Her drawn arrow, poised in front of her heart, becomes saturated with her beauteous heart essence. To be pierced by her arrow is to be penetrated by her transcendent love and undergo a profound change of heart. Herein lies the power of the goddess to subdue, impassion, and incite to higher love and awareness. 

Those who would invoke her in ritual and meditation must never do so for selfish ends. Kurukulla is motivated by wisdom and compassion; her roseate glow proclaims her bounteous affection; her divine beauty reflects her transcendent purity. She will never grant a vision of herself or perform her magic for those who seek only to benefit themselves or inflict suffering on others. Kurukulla, like every Buddha, acts solely for the welfare, happiness, and liberation of all sentient beings. 

MANTRA

Om Kurukulle Hum Hrih Svaha

thangka framed in traditional Tibetan brocade