ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that much of the female symbolism of the Anuttara-yoga-tantra is derived from the human experience of sexual union—meaning both the physical and the mental state. The Buddhist Tantras have numerous references to male and female dieties; and the latest class of that literature, called the Anuttara-yoga-tantra is pervaded with sexual symbolism. Perhaps the appearance of the letters e and va in certain Indian alphabets suggested their use for symbolizing the female and male principles, as is done in the Guhyasamaja-tantra cycle. Among the correspondences to the triad of male, female, and androgyne, there is the set of body, speech, and mind, as well as the set of three gunas, sattva, rajas, and tamas; but inconsistencies appear in the respective correspondences. In basic time, Speech is female—a bit of symbolism prominent in Indo-European mythology; and in fruitional time, Speech is male.
