Khenpo Tenzin Norgey

21 Homages to Tara: Commentary on Verse 5 Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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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 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[i].  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[ii], 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[iii] 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[iv], 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[v], 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[vi].

[i] magnetizing ~ One of the four powers used by a practitioner to remove obscurations and obstacles to practice.

[ii] mantra skt ~ A ritual formula used in Tantric practice, literally means “protection of the mind”.

[iii] emptiness  ~ The absence of true existence of all phenomena.

[iv] Vidyadhara skt  ~ An “awareness holder”, one who has realized through profound skillful means awareness of the Buddha-body, speech and mind.

[v] alaya-vijnana skt  ~ The foundational consciousness, one of the eight types of consciousnesses.

[vi] dharmadatu skt ~ The sphere of reality, the ultimate truth.

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 4 Commentary Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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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 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[i], 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[ii], 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[iii].  In reality, she has achieved the sacred, unchanging body of eternity through the intention of Atiyoga[iv], the crown of nine yanas[v].


[i] Tathagatas skt ~“Thus Gone One”, an epithet of Buddhas.

[ii] ten bhumis skt ~ The progressive levels of realization through which practitioners pass as they journey toward complete enlightenment.

[iii] nirvana skt ~ The state of liberation from the sufferings of cyclic existence.

[iv] atiyoga skt ~ The highest of the three inner yogas, the summit of the nine vehicles (yanas), according to the classification of the Nyingmapa.

[v] nine yanas skt ~ The nine vehicles or levels of accomplishment of the Nyingmapa tradition that represent progressive stages of attainment.

21 Homages to Tara: Commentary on Verse 3 Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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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, 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’[i]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.


[i] Bodhisattva skt ~ One who has generated bodhicitta and seeks enlightenment for the benefit of others.

21 Homages to Tara: Commentary on Verse 2 Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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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 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[i] 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[ii], (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[iii] and purify our mind-streams[iv], 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.


[i] HRI syllable ~ Seed syllable of Avalokiteshvara.

[ii] dharma skt ~ It is an ambiguous Sanskrit term, here we can take it as spiritual path.

[iii] merit ~ Good karma, the energy generated by positive actions of body, speech and mind.

[iv] mind-stream ~ The continuation of consciousness, Buddhist way of expressing our mind.

21 Homages to Tara: Commentary on Verse 1 by Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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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

There are many different Indian and Tibetan traditions explaining this “tantra[i] [1]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[ii] 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[iii].  She is called “Swift Lady” because her impartial compassion[iv] 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[v], the Savior of Three Worlds”.  The three worlds are the sub-terrestrial, terrestrial and celestial realms, (the worlds of nagas[vi], humans, and gods, respectively).

Tara is seductive, and has the youthfulness of the rising sun, and a semi-wrathful smile.  Her right hand is in the boon-giving mudra[vii], and her left hand holds a blue lotus upon which is a right-turning conch.  This symbolizes her mastery of the two truths[viii] and bodhicitta[ix] in this world, and in the god realm[x].  The outer meaning of the praise literally praises the nirmanakaya aspect of the Noble Lady.  In the inner aspect of the praise, if not taken literally, her sambhogakaya and dharmakaya aspects are praised.  The “Savior of the Three Worlds” is the dharmakaya, and its manifestation is the rupakaya, or “form body,” (which is composed of the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya).

[i] tantra skt ~ Buddhist texts that outline the practices of the Vajra vehicle

[ii] mind treasure ~ An inspired teaching (terma) revealed directly from the Buddha-mind,  by a treasure revealer, (terton) .

[iii] 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.

[iv] compassion ~ Sensitivity to the sufferings experienced by sentient beings, coupled with a desire to help them overcome suffering and its causes.

[v] Avalokiteshvara skt (Chenrezig) ~The Buddha of compassion.

[vi] 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.

[vii] mudra skt ~ A gesture that has specific meaning used in Tantric practice as a support.

[viii] two truths ~ The absolute truth and relative truth.

[ix] bodhicitta skt ~ The mind of enlightenment.  The altruistic intention to become enlightened in order to benefit others

[x] god realm ~ One of the six realms of cyclic existence, characterized by seemingly unending pleasure and leisure.

A New World

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By Thubten Rinchen Palzang:

A NEW WORLD

It has become clear that the entire world is out of balance, and the only way to restore it is to return to balance.  Ruben Saufkie Sr, a Hopi singer and activist, is trying his best to do just that.  Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, an American Buddhist teacher, is trying her best to do just that.  On Sunday,  February 27th, 2011 – Dakini Day – these two paths intersected at the Amitabha Stupa in Sedona, Arizona.  It was a most auspicious day for the whole world.

How do we return balance to a world that is increasingly out of balance?  Ruben says that it is vital for his people to return to the old ways so that they can return to balance and heal the social ills that threaten the very existence of the Hopi.  The same is true in Tibet where the Tibetan elders, the lamas and tulkus, see a return to the traditional Tibetan way of life as the only way to save their people.  But it is a hard sell.  Living according to the laws of Maasaw or following the Dharma is not easy.  It is hard work.  It means dealing with one’s own poisons, which is never attractive or fun.  The so-called modern world is much more flashy and appealing, particularly to the young people.  They fall prey to its allures and forget the old ways.  The result is suffering and the end of their way of life.

In the Hopi religion, it is said that the people came to this world, the Fourth World, when the people of the Third World had strayed from the teachings of Maasaw, the caretaker of the land.  Some Hopi  say that the people who had remained in balance in the Third World were led to the Fourth World, the present world, through a sipapu, or navel, located in the Grand Canyon, a rock that is still present in the Canyon.  Other Hopi say that when the people arrived in the Fourth World all they saw was water stretching in every direction, and the people had to make a long sea voyage before finding the mountainous shores of the new world.

Maasaw had been appointed the head of the Third World by the other deities, but he had become a little self-important himself and lost his humility.  The other deities decided to give him another chance in the Fourth World.  When the people arrived on the shores of the Fourth World, Maasaw told them to separate into clans and make a series of migrations guided by the stars.  Eventually they would meet the other clans again and settle in the center of the world.  Maasaw gave the clans sacred tablets to guide them on their journey.

Not all of the clans who began the migrations completed them.  Only those who “kept the door on top of their heads” open, those who understood the purpose and meaning of the migrations – purification, completed them and settled in their present homeland, the Hopi Mesas of Northern Arizona.

Many Hopi even today live the old way of balance, but many have been lured by the temporary pleasures of the world around them and have lost their balance.  The high incidence of alcoholism and drug abuse on the reservation and social problems including sexual abuse and domestic violence threaten the very fabric of Hopi society.  The situation on the Hopi reservation reflects that of other indigenous societies, including Tibet, where the people struggle to maintain their way of life in the face of “modernity”.  As cultural values fall, the people become lost and forget how to live in balance.   The Hopi believe that the people failed to live in balance in three previous worlds, and each time they had to start over again in a new world.  Is there to be a Fifth World, or can we finally learn to live in balance in this world?

Caretaking the earth and living in balance are two hallmarks of both the Tibetan and Hopi cultures.  Joining together the two cultures is something that has been foretold by prophecy and is said to be key to the survival of life on earth.  It is the sincere wish of Jetsunma and her sangha, along with Ruben and the other Hopis who are working to achieve this goal, that this auspicious meeting will be the beginning of a fruitful long-term relationship that will ultimately benefit all sentient beings.  Jetsunma has had a strong interest in the Hopi for years and has visited the Hopi Mesas several times.  She vowed to Ruben and the Hopi people that she will do anything to help them restore their balance, including building a stupa on Hopi land to help the process.

This may be a good time to remind ourselves of the Caretaker Vow written by Jetsunma nearly 25 years ago:

We the Caretakers of the Earth, dedicate ourselves to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.

We vow to work for the liberation of planet earth from the clutches of suffering, poverty, famine and death. We vow to return in whatever form necessary, under whatever necessary conditions, so that all earth creatures can be liberated from the ravages of cyclic existence.

We vow to work for world peace. We vow to work for the raising of all nations of earth into a state of union and ultimately into the blessed state of supreme wisdom, the wisdom that is beyond all description.

We vow to work toward a great Universal Quickening of mind and heart, leading all beings to a state of clarity, a state in which Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, is enthroned within all hearts and within the planetary heart.

We vow to offer as food and drink to all sentient beings the clear, sweet Dharma so that they may feast and be satisfied at last. We offer our bodies, our speech, and our minds to be filled like bowls with Dharma that in our joy we will spill over into the waiting hearts of all our brethren. May their suffering cease forever.

To all the blessed Tathagatas, to all the root Lamas, to all the Sangha, to all the caretakers, grant us the strength to continue, the clarity to overcome self-cherishing, the determination to return forever until we are the last, and finally, the grace to find our way home.

May the Dharma take root in the West, on the Earth, and in hearts of all sentient beings. So be it.

May we all join in the fulfillment of these aspirations!  EH MA HO!

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