Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku 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
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[i] 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[ii] 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[iii], and the spirits are the personification of the five aggregates[iv]. Their reverence symbolizes the purity of the elements and aggregates, which are the base of the male and female Buddhas[v].
[i] phurba skt (kilaya) ~ A ritual dagger, usually having three sides, used in wrathful diety practices.
[ii] gandharva skt ~ A smell eater, a category of beings who sustain themselves on smell like the odor of the smoke of burnt eatables.
[iii] five elements ~ Earth, water, fire, air, and space.
[iv] 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.
[v] 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
