White Tara
21 Homages to Tara: Verse 21 Commentary Khenpo Tenzin Norgay
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 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.
21 Homages to Tara: Verse 19 Commentary Khenpo Tenzin Norgay
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, 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[i]. The inner meaning is that by having the karmic wind[ii]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.
Auspicious Signs on Lha Bab Duchen
On this holiest of days, Lha Bab Duchen, through the great kindness of my Teacher, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, I had the good fortune to be able to sit in her prayer room for a short time of practice. At the end of the practice, I looked up to enjoy the great splendor of Jetsunma’s many objects of devotion — the statues, thangkas, crystals, and relics.
It was then I noticed that a silk sash from the thangka of Guru Rinpoche which hung in the center of the main altar, had moved to drape over the crown of a White Tara statue to its right. And then I saw that the katag that hung on the picture of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche had somehow moved to its left to also gently drape on the crown of the same White Tara statue. Windows were all closed, there was no fan or breeze in the room to explain this event.
It was astonishing, as though both Guru Rinpoche and His Holiness were blessing and protecting White Tara’s presence among us, who is Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo herself. Eh Ma Ho!
Recounted by Ariana Chantal, personal attendant to Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
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