Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 102-minute teaching, Venerable Thubten Dondrub provides a detailed line-by-line commentary on the Twenty-One Praises to Tārā, a foundational Kriyā Tantra practice rooted in bodhicitta motivation. Working through verses 16 to 21, he explains each of the twenty-one manifestations of Tārā—their colours, symbolic attributes, and function—with concrete examples: Tārā who causes the three realms to tremble (orange, holding a yellow flask against black magic); Tārā who neutralises poison (white, with a moon mirror showing the rabbit markings); Tārā who dispels bad dreams and quarrels (white); and others who eliminate epidemic diseases and harmful spirits. For each verse, Dondrub details the visualisation practice, the relevant mantras (peaceful Om Tare Tutare Ture Svāhā and wrathful Om Nama Tare Namo Hare Hum Hare Svāhā), and the mental attitude required. He discusses how these practices work through faith and the power of refuge, addresses the role of Tibetan Buddhist deity terminology, and touches on spirit harm, mental illness, and the protective benefits of regular recitation. The session concludes with the full recitation of the twenty-one praises in both Tibetan and English. Pitched at a Thursday-night serious class with prior initiations expected.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 – 21 taras 2014 05 01 29-5-14.mp3
UUID: 6e18b43b-9968-4299-92b7-da7b564699d4
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: Twenty One Taras (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2014-05-01
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 102.0 minutes
Words: ~9,242
Considered to be in the category of a Kriyā Tantra teaching. And so in studying this practice of praising Tārā through her twenty one manifestations, it’s really important that we listen to the explanation and involve ourselves in the practice the motivation with which the teaching and practice was introduced to us by the Buddha and that is the bodhicitta motivation that we rely on Tārā in order to help us succeed in those things that we need to succeed in, ordinary and spiritual, so that we can devote ourselves more and more to the practice of Dharma and particularly the Mahāyāna Dharma that enables us to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. So please as much as possible try and generate that motivation. But before that, we’ll do the traditional prayers because this is our Thursday night serious class. So we try and do the more extensive traditional practices or at least some version of them.
So we start on page five with the prayer to the lion-faced dakini which is to help us eliminate obstacles. I prostrate to the gathering of dakinis and the three chakras who abide in the holy yoga of using space. By your powers of clairvoyance and magical emanation, look after practitioners like a mother, her child. Akasama Rajasadhara Samara Yipe. Akasama Rajasadhara Samara.
By the teachings of the three supreme jewels possessing the power of truth, may any inner and outer hindrances be transformed. May they be dispelled. May they be pacified. May they be completely pacified. May all negative forces opposed to dharma be completely pacified.
May the host of eighty thousand obstacles be pacified. May we be separated from problems and harmful conditions to dharma. May our enjoyments be in accord with the dharma, and may there be auspiciousness and perfect happiness here right now. Ablutions to my guru and protector, Mañjuśrī, who holds to his heart a scriptural text symbolic of his seeing all things as they are, whose understanding shines forth as the sun unclouded by defilements or traces of ignorance, who teaches in sixty melodies with the patient love of a father for his only child, all creatures caught in the prison of Samsāra, confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering, You whose dragon thunder like proclamation of the dharma from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma, whose powerful sword of wisdom cuts down suffering wherever it sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of all ignorance. I entreat you, O Mañjuśrī, whose princely body is adorned with the one hundred and twelve marks of a Buddha, who has been pure from the beginning, achieving the highest state.
Oh, manjushri, all-loving one with the brilliance of your wisdom, illuminate the darkness in closing my mind, enlighten my intelligence and wisdom so that I may gain insight into Buddha’s words and the texts that explain them. So now we visualize Śākyamūni Buddha in front of us as our source of refuge, inspiration and guidance. And also it can be helpful to imagine that at the very heart of Śākyamūni Buddha is Tārā symbolizing, embodying the enlightened activity of the Buddha’s mind. So we think of the Buddha and Tārā as the very embodiment of the Three Jewels of refuge, the embodiment of all our teachers, perfect teachers of the past, present, future. We offer the mandala as a way of requesting the teaching, as a way to accumulate merit that helps us understand and practice the teachings, a way to purify our mind of the obstacles that prevent us understanding and practicing the teachings properly.
So as we recite the prayer of refuge in bodhicitta, really trying to generate that mind of refuge in Mother Tārā and her amazing qualities and wanting to practice this deity with the bodhicitta motivation. So and generating that bodhicitta thought by trying to have that strong sense right right now of how we are interconnected with with absolutely every sentient being, always have been, always will be. We totally depend on their kindness, which kind of amazingly we do receive in all sorts of ways over and over again. Sometimes we don’t recognize that kindness, but it’s there in all sorts of forms. And we particularly depend on the kindness of a mother, and we have received this from every sentient being many times in beginningless Samsāra.
We have also received the kindness of a father from every sentient being countless times in beginningless Samsāra. And yet, these kind beings are suffering, controlled by delusion and karma, self-cherishing. And and they the very sad thing is that they have to helplessly under undergo this this suffering without any understanding, any protection. Thinking along these lines, we can generate this thought that no matter what, I must achieve enlightenment, especially now that I have found the precious human rebirth, I must use this, all future lives, to achieve enlightenment for their sake. That involves giving up self-cherishing thought, cherishing others more than self, and all the practices associated with that, developing perfect wisdom.
And so to do all of these things and to have all the necessary worldly conditions to be able to engage in these practices, then I need the help. I need to rely on Ārya Tārā, Mother Tārā. So for this reason, for the sake of all sentient beings, I will study how to do this. So we think of all sentient beings surrounding us, I’ve explained many, many times before. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly.
By the virtuous Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings? So now we think that the Śākyamūni Buddha comes to the crown of our head, turning to face the same direction as ourself. And then firstly, the Buddha dissolves into golden light that absorbs into Tārā, into the Buddha’s heart. So what remains is Mother Tārā above the crown of our head, and then she dissolves into blissful green light, emerald green light. And that blissful green light pours down into us, blessing our mind.
So then we can enhance that positive state of mind just by briefly doing some breathing meditation such as the nine round breathing exercise to help develop a calmer, clearer, more concentrated mind so that we can use that level of mind to listen to and think about the Buddha’s teachings tonight. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’ve had the good fortune to receive this commentary on the twenty one praises from Geshe, firstly from Geshe Thubten Loden many years ago at Chenrezig Institute, then from Mochog Rinpoche at Nālānda Monastery in France. I’m actually this in in going through this commentary, I’m relying on a commentary that Lama Lhundup, the abbot of Kopan Monastery, which is our mother monastery, the center of the FPMT universe, this wonderful being, he gave a commentary. But as I explained last week, all of the Lamas of the Gelugpa tradition, when they give a commentary on the twenty praises, they usually rely on the one commentary, which is an explanation composed by the first Dalai Lama, Gendundrup. So that’s what we’re kind of going through indirectly, if that if that made sense.
So I’m not sure where we are. Where are we? We did we do verse seventeen? No. Yeah.
So we did do sixteen, did we? We did. Okay. Alright. Good.
Okay. Just checking if people remember. That’s Oh, no. No. I’ve got it written down.
It’s not Right. Sorry. Okay. So just a minute. According to our all saved.
So according to the outline, we’re on the section which is Praised by way of her enlightened activities. Right? So verse sixteen was the first of those praises in that section, which is the last section. Are we right? Yeah?
Okay. So number seventeen. So this is Tārā who causes the three realms to tremble. So her body is a a red yellow color or orange. I don’t think the Tibetans actually have a word for orange.
When I was trying to study Tibetan, it sort of struck me that the Tibetans have very few words for colors. Like, they don’t have the words for, like, for when we say dark, there’s dark red and blue. They just say red black instead of dark red, and they have no word for pink or orange as far as I know. None of the gradations. And it seems many Tibetans can’t tell the difference between green and blue from my But, anyway, that’s just my experience.
So, anyway, so her color her body is a colored red yellow or orange. She’s holding a yellow flask that subdues black magic mantras. Okay. Have we done that one? So that’s number seventeen, though.
That’s right. Okay. That’s true. Yes. We have.
Yeah. We were talking about the three different kinds of mountains. Yes. Yeah. Okay.
So number eighteen. Should we try number eighteen? Yeah. That’s good. We’ll get there sooner or later.
I have to confess I didn’t prepare tonight. I got distracted by many things, including talking to Venerable Roger, a lama’s in his holy attendant about Rinpoche’s visit here. Anyway, that’s my excuse. Sorry. Okay.
So this is the third praise by way of her enlightened activities. Is praising Tārā with reference to how she eliminates poisons. This, if you remember, is one of the benefits of relying on Tārā that she protects from all kinds of poisons. Of course one has to have a lot of faith, think, but one can be protected from all sorts of poisons that one may have mistakenly taken in some form. If you rely on Tārā, you can Oh, yes, sure.
But it’s also meant to be taken literally of different because it talks about ingested or eaten poisons that have been eaten, poisons that you’ve drunk. This is you know, this is Tārā who neutralizes poison, especially particularly pacifying the poison of the Naga serpents, you know, the snake like beings who have snake like bodies, but who are actually in they’re in the animal realm, sometimes they’re said to be of demigods. Anyway, they’re beings who control the weather from a Buddhist point of view. Control the weather can be also the cause of all sorts of different kinds of diseases. So she is white and has a white colored body and holds a white flask that dispels poison and disease.
So the Tibetan says, approximately, caught with an Australian accent, So the translation says, homage to you Tārā who holds in your hand the hare-marked moon like the celestial ocean. By uttering Tārā twice and the letter Pe, you dispel all poisons without an exception. So this Tārā, although she’s not depicted like this in the Tangan, but as I’ve said, many thangkas are never really accurate in how they’re depicting everything. So one should imagine that apart from she’s holding in her hand a moon resembling a mirror and it says here a is it a hair marked moon. So just like in Western culture, moon is because of the craters in the moon, we say it’s got the face of a man.
So according to Tibet, well not not just not Tibetan, but Indian view, the the moon has is marked by like a a rabbit or a hare. Those markings give the appearance of of a of a rabbit or a hare. So that’s what’s being referred to. Also, sometimes in some descriptions of Tārā, the description mentions that behind Tārā is a moon. You visualize her with not only she’s sitting on a moon disc, which of course symbolizes bodhicitta, but there is a moon disc behind her.
But in this case, she’s holding in her hand a moon resembling a mirror and with the markings of a rabbit or a hare. So by showing this moon to sentient beings, she’s able to eliminate the poisons abiding within them. And as has been mentioned, the poisons referred to are not just ordinary poisons, but of course the mental poisons, the negative emotions, which are often like ignorance, attachment and anger are often referred to as the three poisonous minds. These are the three root poisons of the mind. And then when it says, by uttering Tārā twice in the letter P, uttering Tārā is referring to the two Taras in the mantra, Om Tare Tutare Ture Svāhā.
So instead of uttering Om Tare Tutare Ture Svāhā, she is uttering Om Tare Tutare Ture Pei. She holds the moon. So this syllable pe’ is used often in order to dispel hindrances. One of the things that is recommended when one is meditating and one is experiencing dullness and drowsiness and sleepiness is you imagine there’s a bright light or a little like an ember in your navel and you imagine it shooting up through the center of your body, comes out the crown of your head and as you do that you say very loudly, but you don’t do this in group meditations. This is when you’re at home or in retreat.
Then you say ‘peh’ really loudly as you imagine this light bursting above you, and that’s supposed to help waken your mind up to eliminate, counteract dullness and sleepiness. Here, it’s used in an even more meaningful way of just eliminating some dullness from the mind, but all sorts of negativities. She holds the moon in her hand, shows this to sentient beings while uttering the mantra Om Tare Tutare Ture Pei. This enables her to remove and dispel all poisons within sentient beings, not only external poisons, including external poisons, but also the mental poisons. So, of course, if we have a lot of refuge and faith in Tārā, then by doing this practice, it can help reduce our mental poisons, but even poisons within our body.
But one has to be very realistic about this, because we may like to think we have got a lot of faith, but maybe we don’t have the faith for that to work. And of course this practice can not only be done for ourselves, but other people who have been affected by poisons of various kinds. So we visualize this aspect of Tārā in the space in front of us or above the person, you know, in in to ourselves, we can visualize Tārā in front of us, or if we’re doing it for someone else, one visualizes Tārā above that person. And we imagine that she’s holding the mirror in her hand and showing this to oneself, to all sentient beings as she is and you imagine that she’s speaking this mantra, Om Tare Tutare Ture Pei. And then you visualize receiving the blessings of Tārā and in the form of the light coming from her holy body.
So this is white light because this Tārā has a white colored body. Because this Tārā has a white colored body. And this and this brings all blessings and all poisons in external, internal are completely eliminated. So the extent to which this works, of course, depends on the extent of our refuge, our faith in Tārā, our ability to visualize Tārā, and to to concentrate on that single pointedly. So depending on all those things, then it can really, really work.
Because everything depends on the mind. If we think we’re being healed, if we really think that, not just say the words, but if we’re due to our faith in Tārā, then and faith based on understanding how bodhisattvas make these great vows and due to their huge accumulation, the you know, these vows are able to act you know, work, then then, you know, all these things are possible. So the next one, number nineteen. Oh, we’ve almost finished. Oh, this is incredible.
A bolt of lightning is gonna come. This is Tārā who alleviates all suffering. Again, she also has a a holy body of white color holding a white flask that dispels suffering. She she this Tārā also dispels bad dreams. Okay.
So this is praising Tārā with reference to how she dispels quarrels and bad dreams. So the Tibetan says, So this translates as homage to you, Tārā, upon whom the kings of the assembled gods, the gods themselves, and all Kinara’s rely, whose magnificent armor gives joy to all, you who dispel all disputes and bad dreams. So this Tārā is someone upon whom the kings of the assembled gods and all the gods and the Kanaras who are kind of lesser god or demigod or spirit rely on. So the assembled gods refers to the gods of the desire realm and the form realm. The beings that live in the form less the form less realm who are also referred to gods, they live in states of such extreme meditative absorption that they have no awareness of anything else.
So they don’t they don’t rely on Tārā because they’re they’re not even in a position to know that Tārā exists. But the the the the gods of the desire realm and the the the form realm, they have this awareness. So the king of the gods of the desire realm is Indra, who we’ve mentioned before. Then there are the worldly gods such as Brahma and so forth. All these gods pay respect to Tārā with crowns of their head.
Paying you know, they bow down to her feet with the crowns of their heads. Meaning, you know, that all of the gods are completely inferior to Tārā. Although they have all sorts of incredible bliss, they have they have subdued their delusions, but they haven’t eliminated them. They have all sorts of amazing powers and lives that live that go on for an immense period of time, but they are still trapped in cyclic existence. They’re they’re not even the equivalent of an arhat, let alone a Buddha, and Tārā is a fully enlightened Buddha.
So recognizing that, they bow down to her. So meditating on this aspect of Tārā, reciting her mantra, with all her splendor and brilliance, she is able to eliminate all problems such as quarrels, disputes, fights that you’re having with others, and also bad dreams. So that’s a good thing to remember. If you’re having bad dreams, all these will be dispelled and eliminated. So this this is why she’s she’s said to alleviate suffering.
When we’re having bad dreams and nightmares, you know, our our mind, you know, we we become pretty unhappy. When we’re in a dispute of any kind with another person or group of people, then that makes us pretty unhappy. So Tārā dispels all that suffering or can, if we rely on her properly, totally. So Lama Lhundup explains the way to to to do this practice with this Tārā is to visualize this Tārā in the space in front of oneself and and particularly visualize red light rays and nectar coming into you, pacifying all nightmares, bad dreams, whatever problems you’re facing, such as arguments, quarrels, disputes, lawsuits. And think that that red light and nectar coming into you purifies, eliminates all of those problems and especially all the causes for those problems.
Okay. And then finally no. Not finally. Number twenty is, again, this is another white Tārā. This is Tārā who removes pestilence.
So just she dispels fevers with her red colored body. Oh, no. No. Hold it. Twenty.
Oh, here we have all this conflict. Yeah. As I said, there are there are slightly different versions of these Tārā’s. So here in the painting, the Tanaka, she’s depicted as red. But in this outline see, of these descriptions are according to Tārā Lama Atisha, and one version is according to Nāgārjuna.
So I think according to Nāgārjuna, she is white, but I think according to Lama Atisha, she’s red and holding a red flask that dispels fevers. So you may want to change that to a a red red Tārā. Yeah. Orange red. Yeah.
Orange red. Yeah. This is praising Tārā with reference to how she eliminates different kinds of epidemic diseases. Pestilence, meaning, you know, really serious and major diseases and epidemics. And there’s a new one just developing, isn’t there, which it was coming from where?
From from the Middle East or somewhere, which is called MERS or MERS. It’s coming from the Middle East, isn’t it? What? I’m talking about a disease. The next pestilence epidemic disease coming, flu, some kind of flu y thing, isn’t it?
Which I think comes from camels. It started coming yeah. From camels. Yes. Make sure your camel gets inoculated.
Or you recite this mantra over your camel. So the Tibetan says: Nyi zhal Tutare shintu drakpor rimnay selma Homage to Utara whose two eyes, the sun and the moon, radiate in excellent illuminating light. By uttering hara twice and Tutara, you dispel all violent epidemic diseases. So the two eyes here of Tārā refer to both her wrathful aspect and her peaceful aspect. So from the wrathful aspect, her two eyes are likened to the blazing sun.
When the eyes are in the wrathful aspect, you imagine them as very big and sort of bloodshot and round, and the light radiating from them is extremely hot. When, from a peaceful aspect, the two eyes are likened to the round moon. In peep when the eyes are in the peaceful aspect, the light radiating from them is very cool. Yes. Sure.
Maybe Lama Rakesh saw the wrathful tower and Nāgārjuna saw the more peaceful version. The commentary goes on to say by uttering hara twice and Tutara. Hara is a syllable that means to snatch. So by uttering hara twice refers to the wrathful mantra which is Om Nama Tare Namo Hare Hum Hare Svāhā. So that’s the wrathful mantra.
And the peaceful one is the usual one, Om Tare Tutare Ture Svāhā. It is said that by reciting both these wrathful and peaceful mantras together, even very serious illnesses such as epidemics and contagious diseases that are very difficult to recover from can be pacified. It’s Om Nama Tare Namo Hare Hum Hare Svāhā. So now well, number twenty one. We’re on the last one.
So Sorry? There’s different interpretations. Tare means to liberate. Completely so there’s different interpretations. One is the first Tare is referring to liberating from the lower realms.
Second one is liberating from all of Samsāra. The third Thare can be interpreted, so Om Tare, then Tutare, liberating from the suffering and causes of suffering of all of cyclic existence. And then the final tare refers to liberating from from the peace of nirvana. And and so that so, you know, the so that one can be achieve enlightenment. This is not the yeah.
Yeah. This is not the literal meaning. Tar tarre, as in relating to tara, that means liberation, but the symbolic meaning of those of the mantra is is like that. The first tarre referring to liberating from the lower realms. Second one of the tutare from all saṃsāra.
Third is freeing from the peace of nirvana so that one can generate bodhicitta and achieve enlightenment. So finally, finally, the twenty first Tārā is she who completely perfects all enlightened activities. And both agree that this is this holy the holy body of this Tārā is white, and she’s holding a green flask from which come all magical attainments. Magical attainments, maybe magical is not a good translation there. It it means all the the the Sanskrit term that is that is used that sometimes gets translated is siddhi, which means and there are worldly siddhis and transworldly siddhis, spiritual accomplishments, realizations.
So like a one of the worldly siddhis is to be able to not city. Siddhhi, you know, as in Siddhata. Siddhata means something like you know, prince Siddhata. Siddhata means something like meaningful accomplishment. So siddhi means an accomplishment, a spiritual accomplishment, a realization.
So an example of the worldly siddhis are being able to fly in the sky, read people’s minds, things like that, walk through walls. So this final verse is praising Tārā with reference to how she destroys and or overcomes spirits and zombies. I love that. So this is the second verse referring to zombies. So the Tibetan one, the word for zombie, you you should know this.
You can impress your friends and relatives by telling them the Tibetan word for zombie is rolang or rolang. And the female zombie is a rolangma. So the Tibetan says, so there it is, which is another type kind of spirit, and English translates, homage to Yuttara, adorned by the three suchnesses, perfectly endowed with the power of serenity, you who destroy the host of evil spirits, raise corpses and yakshas, O Ture, most excellent and sublime. So Lama Lhundub explains that this is explained in the context of a practitioner who is abiding in the yoga of Tārā, that is a practitioner who is generating themselves as Tārā. So you can only do that, remember, if you’ve received the proper initiation.
So then Lama Tsongkhapa I mean, Lama Lhundup gives an explanation of that, but since people don’t have the initiation, I probably can’t mention this. So in the third line, it says, düen, dang, rolang, nöjin, tsok, nam. So düen is a type of spirit. Dang is the Tibetan word for and, rolang, so that’s zombies, and nerjin. I think this is referring to yakshas.
Tok means, you know, tok nam means altogether, you know, everything. The lot of strange, nasty spirits. Right? So there are eighteen major kinds of spirits such as vampires, those with black magic, I shouldn’t laugh because we don’t wanna get attacked by one, those with black magic and yakshas who are a kind of harm giver, who steal our radiance and vibrancy. So by relying on Tārā, all these different kinds of harms can be completely overcome.
So so all of these kinds of spirits, negative kinds of spirits, harmful spirits, can only harm us, of course, if we’ve created the cause for it, if we have the karma. And and and it’s not as though these beings can just harm anyone, but if we have created the karma and the conditions come about, about, then it is possible that we can be harmed to some extent by these different kinds of spirits. And of course, what can set all of this off is getting in negative states of mind, harmful states of mind. So the more we get into non virtuous states of mind, non virtuous behavior, then we’re and and if from the past there is some karma to be harmed by these beings, then we’re opening ourselves up for that to happen. It’s not as though, you know, all these evil spirits are lurking everywhere and just like that, you know, one’s gonna be attacked by them.
But, of course, the the lamas often say the main protection from all of of these kinds of negative beings is one’s refuge. That is the greatest protection of all. Right? Having refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. That can so if if we can sort of cut through all our sort of negativities and fears whenever a problem or sit you know, situation arises, if we can genuinely cultivate in that moment when there’s a threat and danger of any kind, if we can in situation really take refuge in the Buddha Dharma, and Sangha from the depths of our heart.
This is our greatest protection. Lama Zopa Rinpoche often says, I think he often says, well, he certainly said it once, one that I heard, that he once asked his root guru, Serkong Rinpoche, Kyabje Serkong Rinpoche, is the best thing to rely on when one is dying? What practice, what deity, what protector? And Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that Serkong Rinpoche said, the best protection is to generate refuge. That’s the best protection when one’s dying.
So, of course, as within that state of refuge, one can have refuge in Tārā, one can have refuge in the Buddha, or or or, you know, or because we can relate to the enlightened mind because of our personality in different ways. Maybe for some of us the Buddha is the most important, the enlightened mind appearing as the historic Buddha, Śākyamūni Buddha, or we may have more connection, feeling for Mañjuśrī or the Medicine Buddha or Tārā or Chenrezig or Tārā. Here we are emphasizing Tārā. So if we can generate if we’re experiencing some kind of negative influence from being these kinds of beings, then generating refuge from the depths of our heart in Tārā can be a great protection. The düens, all the different kinds of düens, the spirits.
You mean to be schizophrenic or is that what you said, that one? I can’t say in specific instance, but like I mentioned, the Tibetan lamas do believe that certain kinds of mental diseases and problems are due to the influence of negative beings. But I don’t think it means that all mental diseases are, but some, and quite possibly in the state of the mind becoming very sensitive and unbalanced, even temporarily maybe in that state, it’s more possible that these beings are able to influence the mind in that state as well. Even though the initial problem isn’t due to them, it could be worsened. That’s a possibility, I’m not sure.
But I don’t think you can specifically say Well, the Lamas can. Some who have got some siddhis, who have real clairvoyance, etc, etc, they can say, oh, this this is due to some kind of spirit harm. And there are, you know, specific pujas the lamas do for these kinds of things. And some of them, depending on the Lama, they can be very effective. But also, I remember many, many years ago everything seems to be many years ago now when I was I won’t go into the long story, it was very interesting.
When I was Rinpoche’s attendant, there was a woman who was suffering from what do they call it now? I think bipolar? Is that what you call it now? Bipolar? Which what was the old name for that?
Manic depression. Yeah. So Geshe Lama Konchok, who is this what he passed away a few years ago now, but he was a truly amazing lama, who when he passed away left incredible numbers of relics of all the different colors, which apparently the Tibetans believe shows that he was actually a Buddha. If you leave that many relics of all the five different colors, only Buddhas, people who have achieved enlightenment do that. But he was a pretty exceptional being.
He could do pujas that, yeah, three bangs of the drum and you would cure it. Really. Now I’ve got carried away. What am I talking about? Oh yes.
So with this lady, because I ended up having to sort of try and look after her a bit. Was very difficult, but Geshe Lama Konchok said later on about this person well, not about this person specifically, but about manic depression, bipolar that this was, in many cases, due to some harmful being. If you catch it quickly, you can get rid of the being. If it lasts a long time, it’s very, very difficult. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.
But yeah. Definitely all of those things are opening us up to all sorts of mean, one can over do this and say everything is due to spirits. And I’m not sure if if I I don’t think Geshe Konchok or Geshe Lama Konchok was necessarily saying that every example of bipolar and is due to that, but it can be. Or makes it worse or whatever. It’s just like nasty human beings.
There are nasty human beings who prey on gullible people not just gullible people but fragile people. They know this person is very delicate in some way, fragile, and they manipulate that. They don’t they don’t try it with strong people because it’s not gonna work. And so it’s just like, you know, these spirit beings because they’re sentient beings like us, you know. They just have you know, in another realm and they have other abilities and it’s so it’s the same kind of dilute diluted way of taking advantage of sentient beings.
If someone gets into a negative state, then, whang, they can take advantage. This is all the things with people who say they hear voices and the doctors say you’re crazy, crazy, they may actually be hearing voices. But of course, because no one listens to them and, you know, and you can’t see the the the being with the voice, you could go crazy. You weren’t crazy, You were just hearing some spirit, but that can drive you, you know, disturb you a lot, especially if people don’t believe you. But, of course, in some cases, they may just be hearing voices in their own head.
So it’s it’s very complicated and not easy to say is this this is the exact unless one is a realized being. But relying on Tārā, whether it’s in your head or it’s an sentient being, rely on Tārā. She will help. Can you wait while we so because we have to fin we can’t finish the, you know, the tea break in the middle of the last verse. Right?
Is that okay? Charming. Charming. I won’t string anything out anymore. I’ll delete all all just bare bones.
Yeah. I I don’t think I can comment too much because the level on that’s just really explaining what you can do if you have the initiation. That is why it is good to receive the initiation of the deity because then it make it makes everything you do that much more powerful, but also enables you to do certain practices that you can’t do without the initiation. So then the the the praises concludes with the two lines, So the trend which translates, this concludes the praises of the root mantra and the offering of the twenty one homages. So the root mantra refers to the peaceful and wrathful mantras that we’ve discussed earlier.
So there are twenty one verses of praise together with twenty one homages or prostrations that we’ve covered. So this concludes all of that. So then so that’s the actual praise, the twenty one praises, but the full practice includes some other verses which we don’t have here, do we? Or maybe we do in your which talk about the benefits. Do do we have that?
No. We don’t. No. Anyway, after the break, maybe I can just quickly go through those, which I but I didn’t mention them actually at the very beginning of this course. But, anyway, that’s briefly the brief little commentary on the the twenty one praises.
So if we can remember a little bit of this as we say the praises, it just makes it a little bit richer, more meaningful, a bit deeper, yeah, and maybe helps to generate more more faith, more refuge. Yeah. So it talks about the benefits. So it says in the in the English translation, whoever is endowed with devotion for the goddess and recites this with supreme faith. So in other words, for for the praises to have the the greatest benefit, impact, then we need devotion.
We need, based on refuge in the triple gem, devotion to this particular being. And here she is referred to as a goddess, so one needs to interpret that, you know, it doesn’t mean goddess in the sense of a worldly being, but here it means a a Buddha. The the Tibetan word for a god, which are, you know, like in all from Buddhist understanding, all gods and goddesses are samsaric beings coming either they’re either existing in the desire the in the desire realm, the form or formless realm. So the Tibetan word for god is hla, l h a, in in English phonetics, hla. That’s why you have the capital of Tibet is called hla sa, which is the place of the gods.
And a place, a shrine room where you you put images of oh, no. Sorry. That’s getting confusing. So that’s the word for a a worldly god, but it’s also used in other context to refer to Buddhas, to, you know, enlightened beings and the deities. Like the like the the tantric deities are also referred to as la.
So one has to understand understand the context whether it’s referring when it when the word la is used, whether it’s referring to a worldly god or goddess or an enlightened being. So here here, of course, Tārā is often referred to as a goddess, but it means it doesn’t mean a worldly goddess. It means she is a a Buddha. And as I was just starting to say, shrine rooms in Tibet where images of Buddhas and deities, like tantric deities and so on, kept are called the the word for house in Tibet is kang. And so a a house where you put holy images of Buddhas is called a or a temple is a.
So the house of the gods, but it doesn’t mean worldly gods. It means the place, the house of of the Buddhas. Right? And sometimes in English translations of Buddhist texts, the the the the word divine is used. So divine, of course, is an adjective relating to a god.
But again, one has to understand it doesn’t mean here in in the context of Buddhist the word divine as an adjective is also usually being referred is referring to an enlightened being. Right. Is that confusing? Does that make sense? Yeah?
It’s like the word green. You know? In one context, the word green is referring to the color green. That’s a green apple. But if you say someone if a person is green, you don’t it doesn’t mean that they’re they’re green color.
It means they’re kind of naive and inexperienced. Right? So depending on the context, the word means this or that. So same in the what? Oh, also, there’s another one.
Okay. That’s a greenie. But, you know, no. But there’s an expression, you know, he he or she is green or green around green around the ears, isn’t it? Green around green around the gills?
Anyway, yeah, now we’ve got carried. Now I’m what am I doing? What am I doing? Filling in? Was that filling in?
Sorry. Sorry. Now what was the expression? What I it String it out. Sorry.
Oh, actually, we’ve strung it out too. So I’ll have to do this quickly. So it says, remembering it at dawn upon wakening and in the evenings, one will be granted all fearlessness, will perfectly pacify all negativities, and will eliminate all unfortunate migrations. So in other words, if we get up in the morning, first thing in the morning, and recite these praises, then we will be granted all fearlessness, pacify all negativities, eliminate all unfortunate migrations, in other words purify the cause to be reborn in the lower realms. Also if we recite this in the evening.
It goes on to say, the multitudes of conquerors, meaning the Buddha’s, will quickly grant us initiation. Thus endowed with this greatness one will eventually reach the state of a Buddha. If affected by the most terrible poison, whether ingested, drunk or from a living being, just by remembering one will be thoroughly cleansed. Okay? It will pacify all the suffering of harms caused by spirits, fevers, and poisons and by other beings as well.
If this prayer is recited two, three, or seven times, if you wish for a child, you will get a child. You you do have to do some other things, remember? But this is saying, you know, if and with everything one has to do the outer conditions or act, but for that to bring the greatest benefit then one one needs these spiritual things to do. In this case, relying on Tārā reciting these praises. If you wish for wealth, you will receive wealth.
All your wishes will be fulfilled. All obstacles pacified. So in the the explanation says when it says, if recited two, three, or seven times, so two times means during the day and night. Three means that during the day you do three sessions and at night you do three sessions, three repetitions. And seven means that in each session you recite the praises seven times.
So in in the great in the Gelugpa monasteries such as Sera and Drepung, it it is a custom, I think, least once a year all the monks gather together and recite a hundred thousand praises to Tārā. Not not each monk does a hundred thousand, but the monks and, like, for example, in Sera Je Monastery at the moment there’s about three thousand monks, so they recite it for some days and accumulate a hundred thousand in the belief that by doing such a practice, this is eliminating all the obstacles for the success of the monastery in general and for their to eliminate obstacles for their studies and for their studies to be successful and so on. Yeah. So this is done every year. I think most most monasteries try and do this.
And this is a a a something that is generally recommended if you’re having problems, difficulties, or want success, to recite the praise of Tārā as many times as you can. And of course if you get into the practice of doing it regularly every day, then it has this accumulative effect. But this is something that yeah. The the the Tibetans have been putting their trust in for hundreds and hundreds of years in in the monasteries and among lay people as well. So we can do this too.
Sorry. Yeah. Go on. Right. No, you don’t have to do a hundred thousand.
Well, of course, Tartar Mantras are very powerful and it’s good to do those as well. Don’t know how to apportion power Obviously there’s some reason why there is an emphasis on this. Of course, all Tibetans who rely on the twenty one praises also recite Tārā’s mantra as well lot. But there’s a particular power in reciting the praises. And also, I think if you look in the text we have of the praises, on in the very middle, pages twelve and thirteen, there’s the the the abbreviated version.
So this comes from Lama Atisha. Lama Atisha composed this four line praise, Tārā. It says here, I always thought it was here. I’ve always been saying, could be both. Which is goddess, you know, or Buddha.
So this is said to condense the whole meaning of the the twenty one praises. So if you can’t do the twenty one praises, do this. And this is very easy to memorize. So it’s good to do that a lot. But of course, the main thing is to try and do the twenty one phrases.
Two times, three times, seven times is good, but three. Three is a nice number, at least that as regular practice if one can. Sorry, what? I don’t know. Well, the mantras are the mantras now we’ve run out of time.
Mantras are associated with developing a part of the meditational practice of awakening a a particular quality that a deity is associated with. Right? So if you recite Om Mani Padme Hum, this helps develop the quality of compassion and so on. So reciting Om Tare Tutare Ture Svāhā helps awaken that ability to cut through, you know, confused thinking and and and so on to accomplish things quickly to, you know, which is related to Tārā as the enlightened activity. Praises oh, dear.
I don’t know how to explain this. I never press on. Yes. I turned it on. Oh, yeah.
Probably not so well. That’s a very good question, actually. I don’t know the answer. I’m not sure really because the mantra is the meditation. The praises is a bit a little more oh dear.
I I think actually one difference is with with the praises, you’re really more more calling on Tārā as an external being to help you. Although yeah. Although but or you’re emphasizing that fact even though by doing that, it is awakening something within yourself. Whereas mantras are much more an internal thing of reciting. And with all due respect, there’s a lot of difference between making up your own mantras and yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it’s good to do both, you know, because it points out the twenty one praises as it says those last two lines are a praise of the mantra and the power of the mantra. Right? And remember, what is the mantra?
Mantra is Tārā. Tārā is the mantra. When you when one is reciting the mantra, that is Tārā in one sense. Anyway, think they’re just different ways of going about the same thing in in many ways. Yeah.
Sure. Mhmm. Yes. Yes. Mantras are particularly done in the context of having received an initiation where you are visualizing yourself as the deity and while you visualize yourself as the deity, you recite the mantra in order to awaken that quality more and more.
That’s how yeah. I mean there are different ways of reciting mantras and there’s a super, super very profound way. So yeah, which is taught in highest yoga tantra. So that is something really reciting mantras out loud or even reciting them very quietly, that is just a preparation. It is kind of training the mind, giving some little introduction to be able to eventually do this mantra recitation which is something very, very special and immensely complicated to do.
Only people who are at a very high level of training can do. Anyway, let’s do the phrases. We’ll do again one time in Tibetan. It is good to that, to be able to do that. And and then we’ll do try and do at least two times in in English, if that’s okay.
So as we do it, we visualize so if anyone here actually does have the initiation, the proper initiation, which enabled them to visualize themselves as Tārā, if you know that that’s what you have, then visualize yourself as Tārā. Otherwise, for people without the initiation, visualizing Tārā in front, the main Tārā, seated on incredibly beautiful multicolored lotus and then a moon seat with a hollow body of emerald green light. And then surrounding her, the twenty one other Tārā’s going around clockwise starting from directly in front of her. And as we recite the praises, we imagine that light goes out from every part of each Tārā’s holy body of of all the Tārā’s, light and nectar going into our self, to our parents on either side of us, family, friends, helpers, harmers, all human beings, all the beings of cyclic existence, purifying them of all sufferings, problems, diseases, spirit harm, all the causes for these to purifying their minds of all causes of all of these things, and awakening all good qualities. And then page fourteen.
All my prostrations to the noble transcendent liberator, homage Tārā swift to rescue, eyesight lightning instantaneous sprung from opening stamens of the lotus face of the lord of three worlds, Tārā born lotus. Homage whose face combines a hundred autumn moons at fullest, blazing with light rays splendid as a thousand star collection. Homage golden blue lotus born, water born and adorned, giving ever calm austerities patient meditation her grace Homage granted other goddess actions triumph without limit, free alarm by conquerors’ children having reached every perfection Homage dwelling with whom desire the directions and space, traveling with our leaders through the heaven worlds, able to roar forth to all beings. Homage worshiped by the lord Shakra, Brahma, Maru, honored by the hosts of spirits, Kinnaris, Gandharvas, Yakshas, homage with a trampers, sounds destroying for his magic diagrams. Earthly pressing left and right in blazing in a raging fire.
The dread will destroy Maria’s champion. She was running Lotus visage. Who was slayer of all enemies? Homage at the heart, fingers adorned with ritual mudra, blazing masses all excited, all direction wheels adorned.
Homage her joyous, radiant crown emitting garlands of light, laughing with the letters, subjugating Mara’s devas. Homage able to summon all the guardians’ assembly, shaking, running with all signs, saving from every misfortune. Homage crown adorned with crescent moon all the ornaments were shining, Amitābha in her hair releasing much light eternal, Homage ye midst the blaze, like unending fire abiding, right leg out left leg in, joys around you, troops of enemies destroying, homage ye strikes the ground with her palm ammo, the woodpeeds. The whole hunger, seven level, she does conquer.
Homage, she abides in great peace, she is filled with peace. She and Nirvāṇa and Samsāra are destroyer of the great evil. Homage she with joy surrounded, tearing those bodies asunder, free with wisdom knowledge mantra arrangement of the ten letters. Homage to her with seed letter of the shape of syllable, hum by foot stamping shakes the three worlds Meru Mandara and Vindhya, Homer holding in the hand, the dema moon of Devalek form.
Paid totally dispelling boys and homogene gods and their kings and the Gennaros to honor. Almighty no joyful splendor, she dispels bad dreams and conflicts. Homage she whose two eyes bright with radiance of sun and full moon. With twice Hara and utter Tutare, she dispels severe contagion, Homage full of liberating power, endowed with the set of three natures, just dispels also spirits, yakshas, and raises corpses, supreme Ture. These praises with the root mantras and prostrations thus are twenty one.
All my prostrations to the noble transcendent liberator, homage Tārā swift to rescue, eyesight lightning instantaneous, sprung from opening stamens of the lotus, three worlds Tārā born lotus, Homage whose face combines a hundred autumn moons at fullest, blazing with light rays splendid as a thousand star collection. Homage golden blue lotus born, water born and adorned, giving ever calm austerities, patient meditation, her grace. Homage granted other goddess actions triumph without limit, free from alarm by conquerors’ children having reached every perfection, dwelling with whom desire direction and space, trampling with our feet the seven worlds able to roar forth to all beings. Homage worshiped by the lord Shakra, Brahma, Maru, honored by the hosts of spirits, Kinnaris, Gandharvas, Yakshas. Homage with her train base, sounds destroying goes magic diagram.
Huffy pressing left out right in, blazing in a raging fire blaze. Homage the dread will destroy Mara’s champion, she with rounding lotus visage, who is slayer of all enemies. Homage at the outer fingers adorned with regional mudra. Library masses all excited.
All direction wheels adorned. Homage her joyous radiant crown emitting garlands of light, subjugating Mara’s devas. Homage able to summon all the guardians’ assembly, shaking, running with all signs, saving from every misfortune. Homage crown are done with crows and moon all the diamonds were shining.
Hammer tower in her hair not standing well, eternal. Homage ye midst the blaze like unending fire abiding, right leg out left leg in, joys around you, troops of enemies destroying. Homage ye strikes the ground with her palm, stamps with her foot, the whole world seven levels she does conquer. Homage I be virtuous peace for, she is filled as peace no one.
She and die with woman soul are destroyer of the great evil. Homage she with joy surrounded, tearing those bodies asunder, free with wisdom knowledge mantra arrangement of the ten letters. Homage to her with seed letter of the shape of syllable hum, by foot stamping shakes the three worlds, Meru Mandara and Vindhya.
Homage holding in her hand the hare-marked moon of Deva lake form, Pei totally dispelling poisons, and homage ye gods and their kings and the Kinnaras do honor. Homage in all her joyful splendor, she dispels bad dreams and conflicts. Homage she whose two eyes bright with radiance of sun and full moon, with twice Hara and utter Tutare, she dispels severe contagion.
Homage full of liberating power, endowed with the set of three natures, So let’s just go to page twelve and we’ll just do the short praise three times. And then we’ll recite the mantra just for a little bit, which is on page thirteen. So then we imagine that all the the Taras are extremely pleased with us, and they show this by dissolving into light. And all of that light from the twenty one Taras absorbs into the central Mother Tārā. Hari Tārā, green Tārā.
So then Tārā, seated on the lotus and moon disc, comes to the crown of our head, turns to face the same direction as ourself, and then dissolves into this intense, blissful, emerald green light. And that dissolves into us through the crown of our head, pervading our whole being. Blessing our body, our speech, and especially our mind. So then we can dedicate the merit of, tonight, the whole course. So remember, set on the second line of the dedication, we’ve changed the Lama Sangye to Pema Drolma.
Page eight. May the precious body mind not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline but increase forevermore. The object of refuge of myself and of all transmigratory beings in all our lifetimes is the embodiment of the Three Jewels, the all encompassing three refuges in one, the Guru, the wish granting jewel, his holiness, the Dalai Lama, the master Padmasambhava, the Dharma king Songtsen Gampo and Trisong Detsen, the abbot Shanta Rakshita and the numberless holy beings who preserved and spread the Buddhadharma in Tibet and the Tibetan people who practiced and served Buddhism so faithfully for a thousand years, as well as those who along with many others died sacrificing their lives for Tibet and His Holiness. May all their positive wishes be fulfilled immediately.
Due to their limitless kindness, the son of Tibetan Buddhism has now risen in the West, which was a dark land. But now that I have met with the Dharma, I’ve received the perfect human body enabling me to lead a meaningful life. Our refuge and savior, the supreme one, his holiness, the Dalai Lama, have been so kind to us. Remembering this, we make the following dedicating prayers. May all his holiness, the Dalai Lama’s wishes be successful immediately.
May the snow land of Tibet achieve pure freedom and develop the Buddhadharma even more than before in Tibet. And may all mother transmigratory beings achieve enlightenment quickly. Lord of Dharma, who in accordance with the various dispositions of those to be subdued, makes clear in the light of your well spoken advice, the sacred Ganden tradition, essence of Buddha’s teachings. O foremost and holy Lama to you who are supreme. O Lama, please please live long.
Okay. Thank you very much. Hope that was of some benefit. Even if I it was was a lot of filler. A lot of filler.