Who is Vajrayogini? The texts refer to her reverentially as a “blessed one” (bhagavati), as a “deity” (devata) or “goddess” (devi). She is divine in the sense that she embodies enlightenment; and as she is worshiped at the center of a mandala of other enlightened beings, the supreme focus of devotion, she has the status of a buddha. In the opening verse to the Vajravarahi Sadhana., the author salutes her as a vajradevi, that is, as a Vajrayana or tantric Buddhist (vajra) goddess, and in the final verse prays that all beings may become enlightened like her, that is, that they may attain “the state of the glorious vajra goddess” (snvajradevipadavt).

—Elizabeth English