Stories like the one about Abhayakaragupta and Vajrayogini from the formative period of Indo-Himalayan tantra
become part of the lore of the “monastic tantric orthodoxy,” even though the Tibetan monks would not actually
perform the actions that Vajrayogini seems to be inviting Abhayakaragupta to do. But what is the story trying to
illustrate about the Tantric view of Vajrayana Buddhist path to enlightenment? How does Reggie Ray derive his
conclusions at the end of the article? How could it apply to the western practitioners of Tantra today? Is it
possible that Reggie Ray isn’t seeing all sides of the issue? Note that you can disentangle the actual story from
his interpretation. Is it possible that this story really is about something other “ego” and “status”?