Dakinis are active manifestations of energy. Therefore, they are usually depicted as dancing, this also indicating that they actively participate in the world, or in the spiritual perspective, in both Samsara and Nirvana. In the Tantric Buddhist tradition of Tibet, Dakinis basically represent manifestations of energy in female form, the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates Shunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations. And the movements of their dance signify the movements of thoughts and the energy spontaneously emerging from the nature of mind. Being linked to energy in all its functions, the Dakinis are much associated with the revelation of the Anuttara Tantras or Higher Tantras, which represent the path of transformation. What is transformed here is energy. This method is quite reminiscent of alchemy, the transmutation of base metal into pure precious gold. In this case, the energy of the negative emotions or kleshas, called poisons, are transformed into the luminous energy of enlightened awareness or gnosis (jnana).
The Dakini is a female being, generally of volatile temperament, who acts as a muse for spiritual practice.
Many stories of the Mahasiddha in Tibet contain passages where a Dakini will come to perturb the would-be Mahasiddha. When the Dakini's test has been fulfilled and passed, the practitioner is often then recognised as a Mahasiddha, and often is elevated into the Paradise of the Dakinis, a place of enlightened bliss.
It should be noted that while a Dakini is often depicted as beautiful and naked, they are seen not sexual symbols, but as symbols of natural humans. There are instances where a Dakini has come to test a practitioner's control over his or her sexual desires, but the Dakini itself is not a being of passion. A more common symbolism is that the nakedness represents the freedom from all obscuration and defilements.
The Chinese and Tibetan terms for dakini literally mean "she who travels in the sky"; this is sometimes rendered poetically as "sky dancer" or "sky walker". Invariably, their bodies are depicted curved in sinuous dance poses.
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