Vajrakilaya — “the Diamond Dagger,” also Vajrakumara — is a supremely wrathful meditational deity of Tibetan Buddhism, especially of the Nyingma school: a fierce, three-faced, six-armed deity whose essence is the phurba — the three-edged ritual dagger that pierces and nails down the forces of evil and the root of delusion. He is the wrathful activity of all the buddhas, the power that destroys obstacles utterly.
The Diamond Dagger
Vajrakilaya’s nature is bound to the phurba (Tibetan purba), the three-sided ritual dagger or spike that is his emblem and his very being. The three edges of the dagger symbolize the cutting-through and transformation of the three root poisons — ignorance, attachment, and aversion. As the deity of the phurba, Vajrakilaya is the embodiment of the enlightened activity that pierces, pins down, and destroys the forces of evil, the obstacles to the dharma, and the delusions that bind beings — nailing them down and transmuting them with the diamond-sharp point of awakened wrath.
The Wrathful Form
Vajrakilaya is depicted as a supremely fierce deity, dark blue or black, with three faces (often white, red, and blue) and six arms, with flaming hair, fangs, and a terrible aspect, often with the lower body of a phurba-blade itself, embracing his consort Diptachakra, trampling and subduing demons. Every detail expresses his function as the destroyer of obstacles and the embodiment of the buddhas’ wrathful, transformative activity. He is regarded as the wrathful aspect of the buddha-activity of all the buddhas, and especially associated with [padmasambhava], who is said to have attained realization through this practice.
The Destroyer of Obstacles
Vajrakilaya is one of the most important meditational deities (yidam) and dharma-protectors of the Nyingma school, his practice undertaken to remove obstacles, destroy negativity and demonic forces, and clear the way to enlightenment with overwhelming power. The phurba-dagger that is his essence is used in ritual to pin down and transform malevolent forces. His practice is held to be especially powerful in dangerous and obstacle-ridden times. In Vajrakilaya, Tibetan Buddhism gave form to the wrathful, obstacle-destroying activity of enlightenment — the Diamond Dagger whose three-edged blade pierces the root of delusion and nails down the forces of evil, the supremely fierce deity who clears the way to awakening with the diamond point of compassionate wrath.