In Vajrayana

Vajrayana

Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...

 Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, Pawo (Wylie

Wylie transliteration

The Wylie transliteration scheme is a method for transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English language typewriter. It bears the name of Turrell V. Wylie, who described the scheme in an article, A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription, published in 1959...

: dpa' bo; literally "brave guy") is translated "hero" or "warrior". Depending on context, it can refer to the ideal of a Vajrayana practitioner; to living people (where it is sometimes used as an honorific or part of a name); to legendary or mythical figures from the past; or to purely spiritual beings.

"Pawo" translates the Sanskrit terms daka and vira, with similar meaning.

Pawos are typically described in consort with khandros

Dakini

A dakini is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'. The dakini, in...

, their feminine counterparts.

The tülku Nenang Pawo

Nenang Pawo

Nenang Pawo Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist lama, considered to be one of the highest lamas of the Karma Kagyu sect. The Pawos form a lineage of reincarnate lamas, tulkus, of which the first was born in 1440. They were traditionally the heads of Nenang Monastery in Central Tibet.The 10th Pawo...

 is often known simply as Pawo Rinpoche.

The concept plays a central role in Chögyam Trungpa

Chögyam Trungpa

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...

's Shambhala terma

Shambhala Training

Shambhala Training is a secular approach to meditation developed by the late Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa and his students. It is based on what Trungpa calls Shambhala Vision, which sees enlightened society as not purely mythical, but as realizable by people of all faiths through...

, where "pawo" is translated "warrior".