+~
+Scrutinize Apperances
+
+No matter what our mind makes appear as an object of one of our six
+collections of consciousness—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile or
+bodily sensations, or mental objects or events—we thoroughly scrutinize its
+mode of appearance. Our mind is making it appear as though its existence were
+established by virtue of itself, empowered by some truly and inherently
+existent self-nature—and not by virtue simply of mental labeling
+establishing its existence as what can be labeled "this" or "that"
+from this side. We thoroughly scrutinize this mode of appearance and the mode
+of existence it implies. There does appear to be something solidly there, not
+existing as what it is by virtue simply of mental labeling, but by virtue of
+itself, independently of anything else. But, by reminding ourselves that it
+does not exist as it appears to exist—by being mindful that its existence
+and identity are not established through its own power—we automatically
+reconfirm and become even stronger in our conviction in its bare mode of
+existence. In other words, as the text [the First Panchen Lama’s A Root
+Text for the Precious Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra] says, "[You
+experience] their bare mode of existence dawning in an exposed, resplendent
+manner."
+ -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
+ of Mahamudra"
+~
+The dakini principle must not be oversimplified, as it carries many levels of
+meaning. On an outer level, accomplished female practitioners were called
+dakinis.... But ultimately, though she appears in female form, a dakini
+defies gender definitions. “To really meet the dakini, you have to go
+beyond duality,” Khandro Rinpoche teaches, referring to an essential
+understanding in Vajrayana that the absolute reality cannot be grasped
+intellectually. The Tibetan word for dakini, khandro, means “sky-goer” or
+“space-dancer,” which indicates that these ethereal awakened ones have
+left the confinements of solid earth and have the vastness of open space to
+play in.
+ -- Michaela Haas, from "Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the
+ Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West"
+