Great-Bliss-Tantric-Sex-and-the-Path-to-Inner-Awakening

Padmanarteśvara
Padmanarteśvara (Lord Lotus Dancer) is Vajravilāsinī’s
devoted consort. Handsome and youthful, he delights in
her every move. He is an erotic emanation of the Lord of
Compassion, who goes by many names, Avalokiteśvara
(Lord who Looks On), Lokanātha (Lord of the World),
Avalokita (Looking On), Lokeśvara (Lord of the World),
and Mahākaruṇika (Great Compassionate One), and whose
famous mantra is oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ (oṃ jewel lotus
hūṃ). As Padmanarteśvara, he also is known by the names
Jina Sāgara (Ocean of Victory), and Gyalwa Gyamtso
(Tib., sometimes spelled Gyalwa Gyatso; Ocean of
Victory). He is the “Lord of Dance,” similar to the Hindu
god Śiva whose dances create and destroy the universe.
The first known reference to Padmanarteśvara is in an
early Yoginī Tantra called the Sarva Buddha Sama Yoga
Ḍākinī Samvara Tantra (The All Buddha Yoga of
Equipoise Ḍākinī Vow Tantra), which may date from the
mid-700s. Padmanarteśvara is also found in the
Cakrasamvara Tantra as a member of Cakrasamvara’s
maṇḍala retinue, and the leader of a clan of impassioned yoginīs. Some other Tantras where he is
present include the Lokeśvara Kalpa (The Ritual of the Lord of the World), the Ḍākinī Vajra
Pañjara Tantra (The Ḍākinī Adamantine Teachings Tantra), and the Ḍāka Arnava Tantra (The
Ocean of Ḍākas Tantra). A subset of the Yoginī Tantras that focus on transforming passion is
named after him.
The early cult of Padmanarteśvara was eventually overshadowed – Amoghapāśa (Unfailing
Lasso) became the principle Tantric form of Avalokiteśvara worshipped in India, and the
wrathful deity cults proved more popular. While Śabara’s form of Padmanarteśvara is red and
two-armed, a later and more popular form of the deity by the Siddhā Siddharājñī (c. 1100s), who
established her own lineage of this practice, is red and four-armed, and his consort is named
Guhyajñānā (Secret Wisdom), who is essentially identical to Vajravilāsinī. In Nepal, the role of
Padmanarteśvara is incorporated into Avalokiteśvara, who is honored today as both the Lord of
Compassion and an erotic fertility god. Other forms of Padmanarteśvara and his consort were
brought to Tibet and widely practiced under the name Gyalwa Gyamtso.
Images of the Deities
No images from Asia of the two-armed form of Vajravilāsinī or Padmanarteśvara are known to
exist, and no images of these deities in any form are known to survive from India. Only one early
sculpture is known from Nepal, of an eighteen-armed form of Padmanarteśvara; it follows the
imagery of one of the sādhanas in The Garland of Sādhanas. A few Tibetan works include
images of the four-armed form of Padmanarteśvara with his consort Guhyaḍākinī.
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