Tara

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 11 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,
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.

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 10 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, lady who unfurls
Garlands of joyous majestic light from your crown.
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.

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 9 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, 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” who protects from all kinds of fears.  Her color is dark green, with the dazzling radiance of emeralds.  Her right hand is in the boon-giving mudra, and the thumb and ring finger of her left hand holds a blue lotus engraved with a wheel.  Her remaining fingers are held gracefully upright at her heart in the mudra symbolizing the Triple Gem [i].  The swirling wheel of light, (a metaphor for protection) adorns her like the finest of garments, and it protects like a shield against all torments.  Likewise, all beings of the world in ten directions are protected from all kinds of fears by the all-pervasive light that beams from her body, clearing their fears in a display of extraordinary radiance.

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.

 

[i] 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.

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 8 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 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[i].  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[ii].

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.


[i] vajra skt (dorje) ~ A Tantric symbol that represents the indestructible union of method and wisdom that is the goal of the Tantric practitioner.

[ii] mara skt  ~ A demon embodying terrifying or malevolent energies.

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 6 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, 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

 

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 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.

Song to Tara

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A Prayer by Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Clear Mind, Holy Mind

The arguments we have used against you

Are like dust…

Against You?

You, who flow silently… eternally

In the well of our hearts.

Have we robed you in filthy rags

Hatred… greed… ignorance?

You have remained steadfast,

Unchanging.

Today we lift you up

To the lips and hearts of

Beings without number

And are feasted forever.

Precious mind unchanging

Clear mind eternal.

The promise we have searched for

Is enthroned within our hearts.

Clear light, holy light

Stainless, precious heart.

Here in this clear place

We are robed in sweet scent

And victorious forever.

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Shining Lake of Crystal Tears

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Arya Tara, Noble One

We bow down to your Lotus Feet

And beg you to remain enthroned

On the Lotus Throne within our hearts

We, your daughters and sons

Offer you the essence of whatever purity we may possess in the three times

Please accept the nectar of our pitiful practice

Please bless the potential of all our hopes and aspirations

And guide our lips and blind eyes

To suckle at the breast of the Sublime Bodhichitta

Mother Tara, protect us, now and at the time of our death.

Sooth and cleanse our minds of the sickness and fever of worthless distraction.

Hear us, Holy One, even though our very voices are tainted

With fear and slothfulness, weakened by Samsara’s spell.

Oh Mother, when we have caused you sorrow

How will you then appear for us in Nirmanakaya form

Through endless aeons for our sake –

How, Mother, will this occur

When our hearts and minds turn inward

With darkness and lack of caring for the suffering of others?

Oh Mother Tara, Holy One, Perfect One

We are lost.

Now more than ever darkness comes

And we are overcome with our weakness and poor view.

Yet you remain for us

Blessed Mother, Holy One, this very day

We make our hearts and minds your home

We beg you to come in glory

And to remain with us

With your Supreme Beauty, Sublime Power and Faultless Light

Until we are inseparable

And Samsara is emptied

Colophon:  Written by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, August 24th, 2004 Sedona, Arizona, when one of Tara’s daughters herself had fallen under Samsara’s dark spell

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

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