The Cult of the Deity Vajrakila.

• Author: Guenther, Herbert

This is a book rich in content that deals with an important figure in a widely practiced ritual by all Buddhist sects in Tibet. The presentation begins with an account of the historic foundation and reveals the author's careful research of all available texts relevant to the study of this figure, amongst which the Byang-gter chronicles with their psychological narratives and religious symbolism play a decisive role.

The Vajrakila figure itself is an archetypal image that goes back to the oldest recorded literature in India, the Rgveda, where Indra, the leader of the Aryan hordes destroying the indigenous civilization, is said to have slain Vrtra and stabilized the earth by pinning it down with a kila, a nail, or peg, or spike. The Buddhists took over this image and used its material representation as a magical protection of a site for a temple by means of wooden pegs and strings to mark the ground-plan. Sir Aurel Stein discovered such pegs with loops of strings in ancient watch-towers north of Dunhuang, dating back to the first century B.C.E. Today such pegs, usually made of bronze, are stuck into the ground before the door of the room in which the meditator wants to meditate undisturbed and protected from "evil" influences.

Another valuable contribution is the detailed discussion of the so-called empowerment ritual (dbang). In spite of the bloodcurdling language, the imagery used - in part, derived from the literal...