Vajrakilaya

'Diamond-dagger', also वज्रकील, Vajrakīla; Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕུར་པ, Wylie: rdo rje phur pa, THL: Dorje Phurba or Vajrakumara (Sanskrit: वज्रकुमार, romanized: Vajrakumāra, lit.

'Diamond-youth'; Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་གཞོན་ནུ, Wylie: rdo rje gzhon nu, THL: Dorje Shönnu) is a wrathful heruka yidam deity who embodies the enlightened activity of all the Buddhas.

Vajrakilaya's back is covered by the freshly flayed skin of the elephant representing 'ignorance' (Sanskrit: avidya; Tibetan: marigpa), with the legs tied in front.

"[6] Robert Mayer, one of the leading scholars of the kīla literature, shares the same view, writing that prior research had been plagued by "elementary misunderstandings" based on a lack of familiarity with crucial Indic primary sources.

"[7] Tibetan tradition, which Boord credits as generally credible, holds that the entire corpus of Indian kīla lore was systematized by Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, and the Nepali Śīlamañju, while on retreat together at Yang-le-shod (present-day Pharping, Nepal).

Beautifully codified in terms of both theory and practice, this divine scheme of meditation and magic was subsequently transmitted to Tibet and became established there as one of the major modes of religious engagement.

"[8] Renowned Tibetologist and Buddhologist Herbert Guenther concurred in a review of Boord's work, concluding that his "careful research of all available texts relevant to the study of this figure" was "much needed and long overdue" in correcting longstanding "misrepresentation of historical facts.

Vishuddha Heruka) in the 'Asura Cave' at Parping in the Kathmandu valley, he experienced many obstructions from the maras, and in order to subjugate them he request the Kīla Vitotama Tantras to be brought from India.

Having established the first Tibetan monastery at Samye, the first transmission that Padmasambhava gave to his 25 'heart disciples', in order to eliminate the hindrances to the propagation of the buddhadharma in Tibet, were the teachings of the Vajrakilaya Tantra.