The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c23.19

c23.19

The conception of Śūnya in Vajrayāna took the concrete shape of a god and a goddess. Śūnya took the shape of Heruka when a male god, and became known as Nairātmā when a goddess. That Śūnya took the form of a deity does not seem strange in Vajrayāna, where we find conceptions, such as Saṅgha, Dharma, Prajñāpāramitā, the twelve Pāramitās, and the five Skandhas deified in the Buddhist pantheon. Thus the conception of Śūnya in the form of a god or a goddess is perfectly in keeping with the tradition of the Vajrayāna system. When the Bodhi Mind attains Nirvāṇa it merges in Śūnya and there remains in eternal bliss and happiness. And when Śūnya was made a goddess, it was easily understood, how eternal bliss and happiness was possible after the attainment of Nirvāṇa. The yab-yum figures, representing Śūnya in the form of Heruka in the embrace of Śūnya in the form of Nairātmā, were held up before the mass as ideals, and they readily attracted them and helped them in their conception of a bright and definite spiritual prospect.