History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.96

v7.c92.96

The Prajñopāya (I. 20) describes the state reached by the Vajrayāna method as follows. 'It is neither duality nor non-duality, it is full of peace, beneficent, present everywhere, to be realised by one's own self, steady (unchanging), undisturbed and full of Prajñā (wisdom) and Upāya (activity with compassion) and it further provides (V. 22-23) that 'by those who hanker after liberation perfection of wisdom must be sought (resorted to or adored) in all ways. This perfection of wisdom is everywhere present assuming the form of woman'. Prajñā was linked up with an intense state of emotion called Sukha or Mahāsukha (great bliss). "It being of the nature of endless bliss is designated mahāsukha; it is beneficent all round, most eminent and conduces to complete enlightenment' (Prajñopāya. I. 27) and 'this all Buddha knowledge which is by its nature to be experienced by one's inmost self is called Mahāsukha (great bliss) since it is the most eminent of all pleasures' (Jñānasiddhi VII. 3). The word Prajñā is feminine in gender and therefore some Vajrayāna writers identified Prajñā with woman; by erotic symbolism and far-fetched analogies the cult of woman was started.