The Short Commentary on the
Tantra of
Twenty-one Homages to Tara called
The
Treasure Vase of Benefit and Happiness
by
by
Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku[55] in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary. His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul currently lives in Tibet.
Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey Year 2131
Namo Guru Lokeshvaraya!
The Lord of Three Kayas[1],
Treasury of activities of
all the Victorious ones.
Ultimately, you are unelaborated
great bliss: Samantabhadri.
I bow to you, the fearless
swift mother of the Victorious ones,
As I briefly explain the verses of praise with devotion.
Venerable
noble mother Tara is Kuntuzangmo,Tib Samantabhadri,Skt in
the sphere of the dharmakaya[2],
Dorje Phagmo,Tib or Vajravarahi,Skt in the sphere of the
sambhogakaya[3],
and Arya Tara in her nirmanakaya[4]
form. Dorje Yangchenma, Tib and
Lhamo Palchenmo,Tib are among her many other manifestations; each
has a different name and form. In the
Land of Snow, (Tibet) in particular, beings are benefited by her other
inconceivable manifestations, specifically, Yeshe Tsogyal,Tib or
Jhana Dakini[5].Skt Just by praying to her, with the help of her
swift action, we can spontaneously accomplish the two purposes[6]. Therefore, it is of great benefit to
persevere in this practice.
There are many different Indian and Tibetan traditions explaining
this “tantra[7] of
praise”. Motivated by devotion, I will
explain this tantra in accordance with “The Treasure Vase of Essential Great
Bliss of Inner Practice”, which is the profound mind-treasure[8]
teaching of the omniscient Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa. Each of the twenty-one verses is praise to
twenty-one manifestations.
Homage to mother Tara ,
swift and fearless,
Your eyes are like flashing lightning.
Born from the blossoming stamens
Of the lotus face of the Lord of Three Worlds.
The first
praise is to Nyurma Palmo,Tib the “Fearless Swift Lady”. Here we pay homage to the lady of activity
who liberates beings from the temporal and perennial sufferings of samsara[9]. She is called “Swift Lady” because her
impartial compassion[10]
benefits beings without even an instant’s delay. She is the “Fearless Lady”, because she has
the unhindered power to subdue demons, as well as the afflictions of
beings. She protects beings from all
fears. Her wisdom eyes move like the
flash of lightning as she fully cognizes all phenomena. The lady endowed with omniscience,
compassion, power, and activity was born from “the teardrops of the stamen-like
eyes of the fully blossomed lotus-like face of Avalokiteshvara[11],
the Savior of Three Worlds”. The three
worlds are the sub-terrestrial, terrestrial and celestial realms, (the worlds
of nagas[12],
humans, and gods, respectively).
Homage to you whose face is like
The gathering of a hundred full moons in autumn,
Shining resplendent light
In the perfect, spacious constellation of a thousand stars.
The second
verse is homage to Yangchenma,Tib
the “Treasure of Wisdom”. The “Lady with
a shining face like an array of hundred autumn full moons,” means her face is a
hundred times fairer and more beautiful than the moon. Her right hand holds a mirror, which is like
a full moon engraved with an HRI[17]
syllable. The “perfect spacious
constellation of a thousand stars,” refers to the field of her wisdom, which is
abundantly spacious, and vast, like the countless, resplendent rays of the full
moon. This light clears the darkness of
the ignorance of practitioners, which is the cause of dullness, disease and
possession by evils. It opens the door
to the treasury of knowledge by illuminating the light of the four specific
perfect understandings. These are the
perfect understanding of the Dharma[18],
(teachings) the perfect understanding of the definitive meaning, perfect
confidence (in the doctrine) and the perfect knowledge of the Victorious Ones,
(brilliance). According to a tantra, the
inner meaning is “to serve the mother of the sphere” which means emptiness or
the nature of mind. In order to look at
our innate self, the face of the ultimate Vajravarahi, we must accumulate merit[19]
and purify our mind-streams[20],
so that they are like an “array of a hundred pure white moons.” Because of these practices, the door to her
blessing will be opened by our true inclination. In that way, we can see ultimate luminosity
and ignite our dynamic wisdom.
Homage to you, the golden lady
Whose hand is adorned with a blue lotus,
You are the lord of the domain of the activities of generosity,
Diligence, austerity, tranquility, patience and meditation.
The third
praise is to Sonam Thobkyedma,Tib the “Yellow Lady of Good Fortune”. She is beautiful; her skin is the color of
pure gold glittering in the early morning sun.
Her left hand is adorned with a blue lotus, upon which sits a gem that
bestows all wishes. She is the lord of
the Bodhisattvas’[21]
sphere of activity, which encompasses the transcendent perfections of
generosity, patience, diligence, ethics, tranquility, wisdom, and
meditation. Austerity, (in this context)
is ethics, and tranquility is wisdom and meditation. We pay homage to the unchallengeable lady who
has the ten powers: the power over life, the power over mind, the power over
wealth, the power over action, the power over birth, the power over
inclination, the power over aspiration, the power over miracles, the power over
primordial wisdom, and the power over dharma.
The outer meaning is that she has attained the completion of the six
perfections, in just one meditation. The inner meaning is that her singular
meditation is like a lotus, free from the flaw of adherence to subject and
object, and is endowed with
the completion of the six perfections.
Homage to you born from the Tathagata’s crown
Who enjoys boundless total victory,
Relied upon by the Sons of Conquerors
Who have achieved perfection.
The forth
praise is to Namgyalma,Tib the “Victorious Lady”, the “One Who
Has Accomplished Immortality.” The
“Wisdom Goddess” of wisdom mantra, who emanates from the crowns of the
Tathagatas[22],
enjoys total victory over the boundless disruptive forces. Her complexion is golden, and she holds a
vase of longevity. Bodhisattvas who have
achieved the ten bhumis[23],
the essence of the ten transcendent perfections, without exception, rely on her
guidance as their spiritual mother. She
enriches practitioners by dissolving the fourteen subtle essences of the
animate, inanimate, and other subtle essences of samsara and nirvana[24]. In reality, she has achieved the sacred,
unchanging body of eternity through the intention of Atiyoga[25],
the crown of nine yanas[26].
Homage to you who fills all of the realms of Desire,
Its Aspect and Space with TUTTARA and HUNG syllables,
You trample the seven worlds with your feet,
You have the power to command all forces.
The fifth is the praise to Rigyed Lhamo,Tib the
“All-Knowing Lady” who has the quality of magnetizing[27]. This red Tara
sits on blue lotus and holds a bow and an arrow. She fills the desire realm, its aspect, which
is the form realm, and space, which is the formless realm, with the brightly
radiating TUTTARA mantra[28],
and the sound of HUNG. (Phyogs in
Tibetan is an ambiguous word. In this
instance, the author of the commentary interprets it as “the aspect” of the
desire realm.) This is because beings in
both the desire realm and the form realm share the same aspect of having
form. Likewise, “space” is interpreted
as the formless realm. The radiance of
the TUTTARA mantra and the sound of HUNG symbolize her realization of emptiness[29]
and compassion. She conquers the seven
worlds by just trampling them with her feet.
If she is able to summon all of these forces without exception just by
the power of the mantra, there can be no doubt of her power over the lesser
forces, for example: sangha, kings, ministers, and landlords.
There are a number of different identifications of the seven
worlds. Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen points
out they are the five goers, and the two upper realms, which makes seven. Drolgon Zhab says the seven worlds are the
realms of the nagas, pretas, asuras, humans, vidyadharas[30],
kinaras and gods; the seven realms with power.
In the commentary by Gedun Gyatso, the seven realms are comprised of the
six realms: (the realms of the gods, jealous gods, humans, animals, hungry
ghosts and hell-beings), and the realm of the bardo, (which is also known as
the intermediate state).
Others write that the seven worlds are: the sky, the form and
formless realms, and the worlds of ten directions. Rigyed Lhamo magnetizes and leads beings to
the path of the three yanas. The
ultimate meaning is that through practice, when non-conceptual neutral alaya’s
clarity is cognized, the formless realms dissolve. When the simple pure luminosity of the
undiscriminating clarity of alaya-vijnana[31],
or “base of consciousness” is cognized, the form realms dissolve. When mental consciousness is free from
delusion and the five sensory cognitions, the desire realm ceases. These cessations are the abiding purity, or
the fruition of purification. At this
stage of awareness, the seven worlds are the seven cognitions, where all the
concepts of desire and the other three realms without exception dissolve into
dharmadatu[32].
Homage
to you, who is worshipped by Indra,
Agni, Brahma, Vayudeva, Visvakarman
and Ishvara,
And
praised in your presence,
By
a host of spirits, zombies, gandharvas and yakshas.
The sixth
homage is to Jigyed Chenmo,Tib the dark red “Great Terrifying Lady”, who
holds a phurba[33]
sparkling with HUNG syllables that destroy all evils. Indra, the king of gods; Agni, the sage;
Brahma, the creator; Vayudeva, the wind god; the great Ishvara and all the
great ones of the world, and the main guardians of the directions worship
her. In front of her kneel a host of
evil spirits who harm beings by their misguidance. There are spirits who cause insanity and
memory loss, and spirits who turn corpses into zombies. There are gandharvas[34]
of the bardo and the realm of Yama; yakshas like Semo, who deceive by seducing;
king spirits who makes beings crazy and angry; and pishaca demons that eat
flesh. All these evildoers await her
orders with humility and respect. Homage
is paid to Tara who crushes the heads of those difficult to tame, and makes
them faint into the state of dharmadhatu.
The inner meaning of this is that Indra and the other gods are the
personification of five elements[35],
and the spirits are the personification of the five aggregates[36]. Their reverence symbolizes the purity of the
elements and aggregates, which are the base of the male and female Buddhas[37].
Homage
to you, who destroys malefic magical wheels,
With
the sounds of TRAT and PHAT
And
tramples with right leg outstretched and left leg drawn in
Dazzling
amidst whirling flames.
The seventh homage is to Tumo Zhenge Methubma,Tib the “Unchallenged Furious Lady”, who
averts wars, lightning and hailstorms by intoning TRAT and PHAT, which in
Sanskrit means to tear and cut. These syllables
thwart the magical wheels of the intentional evil deeds of the eight classes of
spirits. They avert lightning strikes
and hailstorms, and destroy cannons and other weapons of war. To depict that she has gone beyond of the
extremes of samsara and nirvana by her compassion and realization of emptiness,
her right leg is outstretched and her left leg is drawn in, and tramples on
malignant beings. She conquers all fears
of nirvana and samsara with her
power of realization of emptiness and compassion. She is black, and sits amidst flames. Her wrathful wrinkles whirl like ocean waves.
Homage is paid to the lady who wields a mystically blazing sword held
atop a blue lotus that burns all foes to ashes.
The inner meaning of her outstretched and drawn in legs is the sensory
cognitions; when the sensory cognitions perceive and harmonize the sensory
objects, the samsaric wars arise. By
saying tear and cut, she severs attachment to sensory objects and purifies them. This is the base of the male and female
Bodhisattvas.
Homage to TURE, the great terrifying lady,
Who
defeats the champions of demons.
Your
frowning lotus face
Slays
all foes without exception.
The
eighth homage is to the dark red frowning lady, Zhen Megyalvai Palmo,Tib the “Invincible Fearless Lady”. We praise the lady who averts criticism and
other harms, which are the source of humiliation caused by our afflictive
emotion of pride. Her hand implement is
a vajra[38]. By reciting the mantra TURE, which means
“Swift Lady”, another of her names declaiming her swift compassionate action,
she arises in wrathful form from the tranquil dharmadhatu, and subjugates the
demons difficult to tame: the afflictions, the aggregates, the lord of death,
and the maras[39].
She
transforms her blossoming lotus-like peaceful face into a wrathful, scowling
face, and destroys the evil mind of outer enemies. She eliminates those who hate and abuse the
dharma and its upholders, those who cause obstacles for practitioners, and
those who harm sentient beings. In reality,
she executes all foes without a trace: the afflictive obscurations that are the
foes of liberation, and the knowable obscurations that are the foes of
omniscience. The definitive meaning is
that the base of the wrathful male and female deities, (the serving faculties)
are the pure abiding nature of the four attributes of body, and the four
classes of illusory conceptions. They
eliminate the foes of omniscience: the knowable obscurations, and the foes of
liberation: the obscuration of afflictive emotions.
Homage to you, who holds your fingers marvelously
In
the mudra symbolizing the Triple Gem at your heart.
Swirling
masses of light adorn you,
Permeating
every direction in beautiful circles.
The ninth praise is homage to Sengdeng Nagi Drolma,Tib
the “Tara of the Rosewood
Forest
The
eight kinds of fears are:
1.
The fear of elephants represents the
power of ignorance. When ignorance grows
strong, one ignores the law of cause and effect, indulges in alcohol, (here the
use of alcohol is a symbolic of wrong view) and becomes crazy.
2. The fear of iron chains symbolizes
habituation to lust and desire that bind together the senses and their objects.
3. The
fear of pishaca demons signifies the doubt that steals the life force of
nirvana, as it moves in the sky of ignorance, and the doubt that harms the
understanding of ultimate meanings.
4. The
fear of rivers (floods) is a symbol of desire, acting savagely. By the possession of spirits, the current of
desire carries beings towards samsara in its tumultuous waves of birth, sick,
aging and death caused by karmic wind.
5. The fear of fire represents the power of
anger that burns the forest of virtue.
Anger is the cause of anxiety, which in turn causes quarrels, disputes,
and partialities.
6. The fear of robbery corresponds to the
wrong views that steal the treasure of the supreme goal. This causes one to wander aimlessly in the
barren ground of wrong view, (and to) believe in extremes and low ascetic
practices.
7. The fear of reptiles represents
jealousy, the poison of intolerance of another person’s prosperity. Jealousy results in everything becoming a
cause for agitation.
8.
The fear of lions. Signifies
pride, the conceit of holding high ones own views and conduct. Pride causes one to (metaphorically) develop
claws as sharp as a lion’s to belittle others.
These
and their casual factors are the eight fears.
Another
set of eight fears, which are the fruition of secondary afflictions are:
1. The
fear of punishment by kings caused by self-infatuation and harming others.
2. The
fear of foes is caused by hypocrisy, gloom, sloth and excitement.
3. The
fear of evil spirits is caused by dishonesty and deceit.
4. The
fear of leprosy is caused by lack of shame and dread of blame.
5. The fear
of being lonely is caused by disbelief.
6. The
fear of poverty is caused by stinginess.
7. The
fear of thunder is caused by anger and enmity.
8. The
fear of failure is caused by indolence and carelessness.
Homage
is paid to the lady who protects us from these two sets of fears. The inner meaning is that her wheel of the
three primordial wisdom-minds, (the wisdom-minds of emptiness, clarity and
compassion, illustrated by the mudra symbolizing the Triple Gem) eliminates the
nine bonds and other afflictions, which is a cause for accomplishing the
fearless vajra of self-cognized luminosity.
Homage to you, lady who unf urls
By
your piercing laughter of TUTTARE,
You
subjugate the world and maras.
The tenth
homage is to Jigten Sumgyal,Tib
“Victorious Over Three Worlds”, who subjugates worldly beings. She is red and holds a victory banner. Multi-colored lights radiate from her crown,
giving perfect joy and fulfilling the temporal and ultimate wishes according to
the desires of beings. By saying the
TUTTARE mantra melodiously with the eight attributes of laughter, (of the
wrathful deity) she confuses and subjugates the demonic lords of the (sensory
god realm), who are known as the “Controllers of Other’s Emanation”. She also subjugates kings, ministers,
sorcerers, and wealthy householders and leads them to the path of
liberation. In the root text, “the outer
phenomena change only when self-appearances transform.” Therefore, subjugation is possible if the
intention of the spiritual mother (non-dual emptiness-compassion) is attained,
and there is no alternate method. The
inner meaning is the four joys subjugate demons and afflictions. The subjugation of the three doors by
blissful primordial wisdom is subjugation of the three worlds.
Homage
to you,
Who
can summon hosts of the protectors of earth.
By
your frowning movements and HUNG syllable,
You
bring freedom from all poverties.
The eleventh
homage is to Thronyer Chenma,Tib
the “Frowning Lady” who bestows wealth and dispels poverty. She summons the goddess of earth, the nagas,
the god of wealth, yakshas and other lords of ten directions and their retinues
to serve her activities. She is holds a
treasure vase, and is orange in color.
She is majestic, with a scowling face and a furrowed brow. Light radiates from the HUNG syllable at her
heart, drawing in the wealth and prosperity of gods, nagas and humans. She showers the poor and needy with wealth,
satisfying all their needs and freeing them from their sufferings. The inner meaning is that by purifying the
earth-like ignorance that supports the world, the primordially perfect great
merit is revealed, clearing samsara and nirvana of all poverty. This also indicates the Secret and Wisdom
path.
Homage
to you, whose diadem is a crescent moon,
All
your adornments dazzle brightly.
From
Amitabha at your topknot.
The
twelfth homage is to Tara, Tashi Dongyed Dolma,Tib the “One Who
Bestows Auspiciousness” who brings timely rain, helps with childbirth, and
makes places auspicious. This golden Tara sits on blue lotus and holds an auspicious
knot. From the rays of her crescent moon
diadem, showers of nectar fall, improving crops and vegetation. Clear and brilliant white light radiates from
all of her precious jewels and silken attire.
Amitabha, the lord of her Buddha family sits on her black hair
knot. From him too, boundless unceasing
compassionate rays shine for the benefit of sentient beings. These rays bring a shower of auspicious signs
and articles. They cleanse the poisonous
bad omens of animate and inanimate existence, causing all beings and their
environments to enjoy perfect, glorious, auspiciousness. The ultimate meaning of the first line is
‘direct perception,’ the second line means the ‘enhancing experience’ and the
last two of the lines mean ‘the completion stage of the expansion of primordial
wisdom and kayas of the fourth empowerment[41],’(Word).
Homage
to you, who dwells amidst garlands
Blazing
like the fire at the end of an eon.
With
your right leg outstretched and left leg drawn in
Your
joyful turning destroys enemy forces.
The
thirteenth homage is to Drapung Jomma,Tib the “Tara Who Averts
War”. She averts wars and obstacles, and
leads beings to victory in the war with form and formless enemies. She is red in color and dwells amidst
garlands of wisdom fire swirling like the fire at the end of an eon. Her right leg is stretched out and left leg
is drawn in. Sparks of fire fly from the
prongs of the vajra she brandishes, subduing all harmful enemies. She comforts them by gathering them under the
vajra-tent that protects them from their own evil. With every skillful means[42],
she turns the wheel of dharma, according to the disposition of the beings to be
tamed. She makes them content and
joyous, and subdues the malefic forces of the two obscurations. The inner meaning is that this indicates the
realization that “exhausts all phenomena”.
Just as the fire at the end of the eon consumes the world, when the
primordial wisdom swirls in dharmadhatu, the outer earth and stones, the inner
animate body, and the secret conceptions are also exhausted. So the foes of the two obscurations[43]
are subjugated, and the joy of the great tranquility of the core of inner
clarity of primordial wisdom[44]
that does not dwell in the extremes of samsara and nirvana is experienced.
Homage to you, who strikes the earth with your palms,
And
stamps upon it with your feet.
With
wrathful grimaces and HUNG syllable,
You
scatter the seven underworlds.
The
fourteenth homage is to Thronyer Chenzed,Tib the “Wrathful Wrinkled
(Frowning) Tara” who subdues the eight classes of harmful spirits and nine
malignant spirit brothers. She is black
like a dark night, and holds a wooden pestle upon a blue lotus. She makes the world tremble and quake by
striking the mountains and islands with the palms of her hands and stamping
upon them with her feet. By the power of
her regal frowning, the resounding vibration of HUNG, and the glare from her
radiant vajra light, which is like a fire-shower, she shatters the hearts and
heads of all malignant spirits: samaya[45]
breakers, demons and others from the seven underworlds and above, and makes
them faint into the state of dharmata[46]. The seven underworlds, which are like layers
of seven roofs, are: the abodes of demons, the general base, the higher base,
the baseless, the specific base, the base of essence, the perfect base, and the
pure base. In reality, the two soles
striking symbolize striking the crucial point of the path of the non-duality of
pristine wisdom and the basic sphere, which uproots the seven latencies or
seven cognitions with their objects.
Homage to you, who is blissful, virtuous and tranquil,
And enjoys the domain of peaceful nirvana
With (mantra) endowed perfectly with
SVAHA and OM
You destroy all awful non-virtuous karma.
The fifteenth homage is to Rabtu Zhima,Tib the “Perfect Pacifier”, who pacifies the obscuration of negative
karma[47]. She sits on blue lotus, and is peaceful. Her color is white like a crystal moon and
she holds an anointing vase. She is free
from the fruition of suffering, and as a result, she is blissful She has
eliminated non-virtue, and as a result, she is virtuous. Her afflictions have ended, and as a result, she is tranquil. She has gone beyond
the sufferings of the two obscurations and she enjoys and abides in the sphere
of sublime tranquility. By her power of
compassion, and power of reciting perfectly in accordance with the sadhana[48]
her twenty-three or eighteen syllable mantras, the five heinous negative karmas[49]
that make beings fall into the lower realms, and other karma that generates
great sufferings are uprooted and purified.
The mantra includes the additional syllables, OM
at the beginning and SVAHA at the end.
The ultimate meaning is that her blissfulness and other qualities are
connected to the five wisdom minds: the wisdom of absolute space, mirror-like
wisdom, the wisdom of equality, discriminating wisdom, and all-accomplishing
wisdom.
Homage to you, who is surrounded by joyous ones
Who completely scatter the bodies of enemies.
You liberate all with your speech,
adorned with ten syllables
And HUNG: your pristine awareness.
The sixteenth homage is to Drolma Barvai Odcan,Tib the “Tara Who Averts the Enemies and Mantra’s Spell,” who is red
like the fire at the end of eon, sits on blue lotus, and holds a crossed
vajra. She is surrounded by a host of
vidyadharas and mendicants who have accomplished the practice of mantra and
power of truthful speech and are endowed with perfect joy of
samadhi. Their
radiance scatters the bodies of the foes and overcomes the power of magical
spells and the power of sorcery, destroying them without a trace. By reciting her mantra arrangement of the ten
syllables, OM TARE and so on, she At the heart of the wrathful lady, awareness
rests in the form of a HUNG radiating light that clears the outer, inner, and
secret obscurations of the beings to be tamed.
The ultimate meaning is that by subduing the foe of the impure
appearance of our body, the awareness body of the Mother of the Victorious Ones
is accomplished: the unchanging great blissful body endowed with the ten
powers.
Homage to you whose seed syllable is HUNG
Who utters TURE and stamps your feet.
Causing Meru, Mandhara and Vindhya mountains
And the three worlds to tremble.
The seventeenth homage is to Dolma Pagmed Nonma,Tib the “Unfathomable Suppressor”, who averts harm from hunters,
thieves, robbers and enemies. She is
orange like saffron, sits on a blue lotus and holds a stupa[50]. By saying TURE, stamping on the ground, and
the radiating seed syllables from the HUNG at her heart, she shakes all the
abodes of the great gods, including Mount Meru, Mandhara and Vindhya. The effect of her actions extends beyond the
three thousand worlds. Her stamping
causes the three realms: desire, form and formless, on the subterranean,
terrestrial and celestial worlds, to quake and quiver. By the power of her frightening forces, she
crushes butchers, thieves, and other enemies under her feet and gives peace to
all beings. The ultimate meaning is that
the quavering of the three worlds is purification of the three doors, (body,
speech and mind).
Homage to you, holding a hare-marked full moon,
Shaped like the god’s ocean of nectar
By uttering TARE twice and PHAT
You dispel all poison without exception.
The eighteenth homage is to Maja Chenmo,Tib the “Great Peahen”, who averts and pacifies poison. She is as white as the moon, and sits on a
blue lotus. In her left hand, she holds
a full moon marked with a rabbit, which is the shape of the ocean of nectar of
the god realm. With her radiance and her
chanting of the mantra, OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA VETRA TARA PHAT SVA HA,
which has two TARES and a PHAT syllable, she clears all poisons, both animate
and inanimate, without a trace.
Generally, all obstacles arise from poisons, and the base of all the
animate and inanimate poisons is our afflictions. She clears all the poisons of sentient beings
without a trace with the medicine of the truth of reality.
Homage to you, on whom kings, congregations of gods,
Minor gods, and kinaras rely.
Your armor of magnificent joy
Dispels all disputes and bad dreams.
The
nineteenth is homage to Mipham Gyalmo,Tib the “Undefeated
Queen”, who averts conflicts and bad dreams.
She is white and holds a white umbrella.
Indra, Brahma, gods of the desire and form realms, demons and local gods
who harm beings, and the gods of mountains, lakes and trees who help beings,
honor her without exception. In general,
by the mantra that is blessed by her and the visualization of her body as
armor, all conflicts and bad dreams can be averted. In particular, the multi-colored vajras and
the sparkles they emit avert religious and political critics, and make their
statements powerless. She wears a crown
to symbolize honoring lamas as deities, actualization of primordial wisdom, and
stabilization of bodhicitta. She wears
earrings as a sign of refraining from the humiliation of lamas. Her armlets, bracelets, and anklets, six in
number, signify that she refrains from killing insects. Her necklaces represent her perfect recitation
of mantra. Her belt, lower garments and
ornaments indicate that her body is endowed with bodhicitta. All of her ornaments are like fine armor,
whose splendor can avert criticism and the bad dreams caused by the imbalance
of the winds, channels and seminal essence[51]. The inner meaning is that by having the
karmic wind[52]
flow into the uma, the central channel, the experience of the armor of
emptiness is actualized, averting the delusions that cause conflict and bad
dreams.
Homage to you,
whose two eyes, the sun and the moon
Radiate sublime luminous light.
Uttering HARA twice and TUTTARA
You dispel all horrifying epidemics.
The twentieth homage is to Lhamo Rithrodma,Tib the “Mendicant Tara”, who averts all diseases. She is orange and her hand holds a vase of
nectar on a blue lotus. Her left eye is
like the full moon and her right eye is like the sun. Her right eye emits blazing rays that burn
all the lords of diseases, (those who command the evil spirits that bring
disease) like haystacks. Clear nectar
flows from the moon, (her left eye) curing the causes and effects of diseases
and epidemics. Her mantra, OM TARE
TUTTARE TURE NAMA TARE NAMO HARA HUNG HARA SVA HA has two HARA sounds and a
TUTTARA. The mantra can cure even the
most dangerous incurable epidemics. The
ultimate meaning is that if the mother-sphere of transcendent wisdom is
realized, the most dangerous epidemics of afflictions, their causes and
fruitions, can be cured.
Homage to you, who is adorned by three Suchnesses.
Perfectly endowed with the power of serenity.
Destroyer of demons, zombies and yakshas.
O TURE! Sublime excellent
lady.
The
twenty-first praise is the homage to Lhamo Odser Chenma,Tib the “Goddess with Brilliance”, who can
restore the life force. She is white,
her left hand is in the boon-giving mudra, and her right hand is in the
refuge-giving mudra, holding a blue lotus on which sit the auspicious golden
fishes. At her three places: crown,
throat, and heart, are OM, AH, and HUNG, respectively, which form the sublime
protection against all obstacles. The
light rays from these letters protect the three doors of beings from the harm
of all outer obstacles caused by evil forces, both form and formless. They also protect beings from the inner
obstacles of ill health, and the secret obstacles of dualistic affliction. The rays have the power to pacify them
without a trace. Particularly, the rays
from the three letters can restore the life force stolen by spirits, zombies,
and yakshas, and eliminate their harmful intentions and actions. The homage is to TURE, the great
compassionate lady who acts swiftly for the benefit of sentient beings. The true meaning is that Tara has the power
to guide the minds of beings to be tamed in the “three approaches to
liberation”. These are: emptiness,
attributelessness and aspirationlessness, or, the suchness of an entity, its
nature and compassion, and the clearing of all its obscurations. Ultimately the vajra body, speech and mind
are the primordially pure nature of all phenomena. By meditating on the sphere of the
indivisibility of the three vajras, the demons, sufferings, zombies, and
yakshas are transformed by the great bliss of primordial wisdom.
This is the praise to Her root mantra,
And the Twenty-One Homages.
The
Benefits of Reciting the Praise
The wise one endowed with pure respect for the goddess,
Who recites these praises with perfect devotion
Remembering her in the evening and upon waking at dawn,
Will be endowed with complete freedom from fear.
A practitioner who recites the praise in the evening and at
dawn, recalling Tara’s qualities with pure devotion, and has the wisdom to
discriminate between good and bad will be protected from the sixteen
fears. Others will be endowed with
complete freedom from all fears. It is
also said that we must meditate on her wrathful form in the evening to pacify
the harms of this life, and visualize her peaceful form at dawn and recite the
praises to save ourselves from rebirth in the lower realms.
All their sins will be pacified,
Causing destruction to all lower realms.
And the seven million
Victorious Ones
Will quickly grant them
empowerment.
Thus, they will attain greatness, and progress
To the stage of Buddhahood.
The daily
practice of the Twenty-One Praises to Tara will cause all of the practitioner’s
sins to be pacified and purified. Those
who recite the praise will not experience the sufferings of the lower
realms. The seven million Victorious
Ones who abide with the Noble Lady will swiftly bless and empower the
practitioners. In this life, the
practitioners of this praise will achieve the great bliss of place, body,
retinue, and the qualities of the dharma of transmitted precepts and realization. They will swiftly attain the paths and
bhumis, and reach the ultimate state of enlightenment.
By remembering Her, the most violent poisons
Abiding in the earth or in beings
Whether eaten or drunk
Will be completely removed.
At the
conventional level, practitioners will be protected from terrible diseases, and
the pain caused by aconite and other inanimate poisons. They will be protected from the poisonous
fangs, horns, stings and bites of animals.
The practice will also provide protection from the poisonous effect of
the evil intentions of malignant spirits, protection from their touch, and the
evil eye. By remembering the goddess and
her mantra, the harmful effect of poisons whether they have been eaten or drunk
will be nullified.
This can eliminate various sufferings
Inflicted by the spirits, epidemics, and poisons
Even if done for the sake of other beings.
The practice can easily eliminate the suffering inflicted by
outer and inner poisons, by dangerous epidemics and possession by evil
spirits. The same benefit can be
achieved if the praise is recited for the sake other beings.
On sincerely reciting twice,
three times, and seven times
The wish to have child will be fulfilled
And the desire for wealth can be achieved.
All the wishes will be fulfilled
Every hindrance destroyed in its turn
We must recite
the praise twice, three and seven times in one session. We can do the practice either two sessions a
day: once during the day, and once during the night, or three sessions during
the day and three sessions at night. The
Vajra holders of India and Tibet teach that if one practices the sadhana of
“The Four Mandala Offerings[53]”
in this way, the desire to have children to continue one’s family line, or to
provide students to uphold the dharma lineage will be fulfilled. In the same way, if one wishes to have wealth
for the happiness of this life and the next, excellent prosperity can easily be
achieved. Likewise, any other
activities: siddhis[54],
temporal desires and ultimate wishes will be fulfilled. By the compassion of the Venerable Mother,
unfavorable obstacles in the future will not manifest, and harm will not arise
from obstacles that have already occurred.
Since all purposes can be fully achieved, the wise must practice this
sadhana with enthusiasm.
By explaining the Twenty-One Praises with devotion,
May all access the ocean of siddhis, clear all obstacles
And have the auspiciousness of complete enlightenment,
By swiftly having a vision of Her face, embraced
By the unchanging bliss, endowed with all supreme attributes.
To summarize the
text, the meaning of the root mantra is shown in the form of praise. The twenty-one verses of homage show the
twenty-one manifestations of the goddess.
Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku[55]
in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary. His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul
currently lives in Tibet.
Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey
Year 2131
(Tibetan)
[1] three kayas skt ~ Dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya, the differing
dimensions (bodies) in which the embodiment of fully enlightened attributes
occurs.
[2] dharmakaya skt ~ Buddha
body of reality.
[3] sambhogakaya skt ~ Buddha body of enjoyment.
[4] nirmanakaya skt ~ Buddha
body of emanation.
[5] dakini skt (khandro) ~ Literally, sky goer. A yogini who has attained mundane
or supramundane accomplishments, specifically, enlightenment.
[6] two purposes ~ To benefit
self, and other.
[7] tantra skt ~ Buddhist texts that outline the practices of the Vajra vehicle
[8] mind treasure ~ An inspired teaching (terma) revealed directly from
the Buddha-mind, by a treasure revealer,
(terton) .
[9] samsara skt ~ Cyclic existence, the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth
characterized by suffering and dominated by the three poisons: ignorance,
desire and hatred.
[10] compassion ~ Sensitivity to the sufferings experienced by sentient
beings, coupled with a desire to help them overcome suffering and its causes.
[11] Avalokiteshvara
skt (Chenrezig) ~The Buddha of compassion.
[12] naga ~ A snake-like being living in the depths of water or
underground. Although they have
miraculous powers, they are classified as belonging to the lower realm.
[13] mudra skt ~ A gesture that has specific meaning used in Tantric practice as a
support.
[14] two truths ~ The absolute and relative truth.
[15] bodhicitta skt ~ The mind of enlightenment. The altruistic intention to become
enlightened in order to benefit others
[16] god realm ~ One of the six realms of cyclic existence,
characterized by seemingly unending pleasure and leisure.
[17] HRI syllable ~ Seed syllable of Avalokiteshvara.
[18] dharma skt ~ It is an ambiguous Sanskrit term, here we can take it as
spiritual path.
[19] merit ~ Good karma, the energy generated by positive actions of
body, speech and mind.
[20] mind-stream ~ The continuation of consciousness, Buddhist way of
expressing our mind.
[21] Bodhisattva
skt ~ One who has generated bodhicitta and seeks
enlightenment for the benefit of others.
[22] Tathagatas
skt ~“Thus Gone One”, an epithet of Buddhas.
[23] ten bhumis
skt ~ The progressive levels of realization
through which practitioners pass as they journey toward complete enlightenment.
[24] nirvana skt ~ The state of liberation from the sufferings of cyclic existence.
[25] atiyoga skt ~ The highest of the three inner yogas, the summit of the nine
vehicles (yanas), according to the classification of the Nyingmapa.
[26] nine yanas
skt ~ The nine vehicles or levels of
accomplishment of the Nyingmapa tradition that represent progressive stages of
attainment.
[27] magnetizing ~ One of the four powers used by a practitioner to
remove obscurations and obstacles to practice.
[28] mantra skt ~ A ritual formula used in Tantric practice, literally means
“protection of the mind”.
[29] emptiness ~ The absence of
true existence of all phenomena.
[30] Vidyadhara
skt ~ An
“awareness holder”, one who has realized through profound skillful means
awareness of the Buddha-body, speech and mind.
[31] alaya-vijnana
skt ~ The
foundational consciousness, one of the eight types of consciousnesses.
[32] dharmadatu
skt ~ The sphere of reality, the ultimate truth.
[33] phurba skt (kilaya) ~ A ritual dagger, usually having three sides, used in
wrathful diety practices.
[34] gandharva skt ~ A smell eater, a category of beings who sustain themselves on
smell like the odor of the smoke of
burnt eatables.
[35] five elements ~ Earth, water, fire, air, and space.
[36] five aggregates ~ The components of the psychophysical personality,
on the basis of which beings commonly impute the false notion of self. They five aggregates are form, feeling,
perception, compositional factors and consciousness.
[37] Buddha skt ~ One who has perfected compassion and wisdom though following the
bodhisattva path. Characterized by the development of omniscience, and
actualization of the three bodies: complete enjoyment body, truth body and
emanation bodies
[38] vajra skt (dorje) ~ A Tantric symbol that represents the indestructible union
of method and wisdom that is the goal of the Tantric practitioner.
[39] mara skt ~ A demon embodying
terrifying or malevolent energies.
[40] Triple Gem ~ Buddha, Dharma
and Sangha. Buddha as the teacher of
refuge, the doctrine as actual refuge, and the spiritual community as support
for practice.
[41] empowerment ~ A ritual
transfer of power, an initiation. The
authorization to hear, study and practice the teachings of the Vajrayana. This takes place in a ceremony that may be
extremely elaborate or utterly simple, conducted by a Vajra master.
[42] skillful means ~ The Mahayana practice of adapting the doctrine to
the capacities of one’s audience.
[43] two obscurations ~ There are
two types of obscurations: those preventing liberation from the cycle of samsaric
suffering, called afflictive obscurations, and those preventing omniscience,
called the obscurations to the objects of knowledge.
[44] primordial wisdom ~The
wisdom that has realized the primordial nature of all phenomena.
[45] samaya skt ~ A vow or word of honor, a
promise, commitment, usually in the
context of a Tantric vow or empowerment.
[46] dharmata skt ~ The void nature the emptiness aspect of
Buddhahood. It can be translated as the
true nature of reality.
[47] karma skt ~ The doctrine of actions and there causal consequences, the law of
cause and effect.
[48] sadhana skt ~ Translated as “means of accomplishment” Usually is a complete set of tantric
liturgies on the practice of a deity, starting from the lineage prayers to
dedication of the merit to all the sentient beings.
[49] five heinous negative karmas ~ Patricide, matricide, killing an arhat, drawing blood
from the body of a Buddha with evil intent, and causing a schism in the sangha.
[50] stupa skt ~ Buddhist sacred monument and reliquary, built to represent the
enlightened mind.
[51] winds, channels and seminal essence ~ Our vital energy or wind,
moves the essential fluid of consciousness or seminal essence, also called
tigle or drop, through the channels, or in Sanskrit, nadis.
[52] karmic wind ~ The vital energy
generated by our karma.
[53] mandala skt offering ~ A Tantric practice in which all precious things are
offered to the deities, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in order to develop
generosity, the first of the six perfections.
[54] siddhi skt ~ Spiritual accomplishments
which may be mundane or supramundane. Buddhahood is the ultimate siddhi,
mundane siddhis include clairvoyance, clairaudience, flying, etc.
[55] tulku Tib
~ A reincarnate lama. The Tibetan translation of the
Sanskrit “nirmanakaya”, used as an honorific term for recognized incarnations
of lamas, who are found, usually in childhood, and are brought up to inherit
the lineage and often the monastic foundations of their predecessors.
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