Praises and Requests to the Twenty-One Taras

from Ven. Thubten Chodron's Pearl of Wisdom, Book II
(used with permission)

Prepare for this practice by setting the proper motivation and reciting the preliminary prayers and practices.

Visualization
You are in your ordinary form. At your heart appears a white AH made of light. This transforms into a white moon disc. At its center appears a green syllable TAM, the essence of Tara's blissful omniscient mind of wisdom and compassion. Standing clockwise around the edge of the moon appear the letters of the mantra om tare tuttara ture soha, made of green light

Tara's Mantra: om tare tuttare ture soha

From the TAM, rainbow-colored light goes out in all directions and invokes Tara to appear in the space in front of you. She is seated on a lotus and moon disc. Her body is made of emerald-green light, youthful and exquisitely beautiful. Her right hand on her right knee is in the gesture of giving; her left hand at her heart is in the gesture of refuge and holds the stem of a blue utpala flower that blooms by her ear.
Her left leg is drawn up and her right leg is slightly extended. Her face is very beautiful and she smiles with loving kindness at all sentient beings.
Surrounding her in space are twenty-one other Taras, as well as all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Surrounding you are all sentient beings. You lead them in reciting the prayers and requests to Tara

Homage to the Twenty-one Taras
OM I prostrate to the noble transcendent liberator.

1
Homage to Tara swift and fearless
With eyes like a flash of lightning
Lotus-born in an ocean of tears
Of Chenresig, three worlds' protector.
2
Homage to you whose face is like
One hundred autumn moons gathered
And blazes with the dazzling light
Of a thousand constellations.

3
Homage to you born from a gold-blue lotus
Hands adorned with lotus flowers
Essence of giving, effort and ethics,
Patience, concentration and wisdom.
4
Homage to you who crown all Buddhas
Whose action subdues without limit
Attained to every perfection
On you the bodhisattvas rely.

5
Homage to you whose TUTTARE and HUM
Fill the realms of desire, form and space.
You crush seven worlds beneath your feet
And have power to call all forces.
6
Homage to you adored by Indra,
Agni, Brahma, Vayu and Ishvara.
Praised in song by hosts of spirits,
Zombies, scent-eaters and yakshas.

7
Homage to you whose TREY and PEY
Destroy external wheels of magic.
Right leg drawn in and left extended,
You blaze within a raging fire.
8
Homage to you whose TURE destroys
The great fears, the mighty demons.
With a wrathful frown on your lotus face,
You slay all foes without exception.

9
Homage to you beautifully adorned
By the Three Jewels' gesture at your heart.
Your wheel shines in all directions
With a whirling mass of light.
10
Homage to you, radiant and joyful
Whose crown emits a garland of light.
You, by the laughter of TUTTARA
Conquer demons and lords of the world.

11
Homage to you with power to invoke
The assembly of local protectors.
With your fierce frown and vibrating HUM,
You bring freedom from all poverty.
12
Homage to you with crescent moon crown
All your adornments dazzling bright.
From your hair-knot, Amitabha
Shines eternal with great beams of light.

13
Homage to you who dwells in a blazing wreath
Like the fire at the end of this age.
Your right leg outstretched and left drawn in,
Joy surrounds you who defeats hosts of foes.
14
Homage to you whose foot stamps the earth
And whose palm strikes the ground by your side.
With a wrathful glance and the letter HUM,
You subdue all in the seven stages.

15
Homage to the blissful, virtuous, peaceful one
Object of practice, nirvana's peace
Perfectly endowed with SOHA and OM
Overcoming all the great evils.
16
Homage to you with joyous retinue
You subdue fully all enemies' forms
The ten-letter mantra adorns your heart
And your knowledge-HUM brings liberation.

17
Homage to TURE with stamping feet
Whose essence is the seed-letter HUM
You cause Merus, Mandara and Vindaya
And all three worlds to tremble and shake.
18
Homage to you who holds in your hand
A moon like a celestial lake
Saying TARA twice and the letter PEY
You dispel all poisons without exception.

19
Homage to you on whom the kings of gods,
The gods themselves and all spirits rely.
Your armor radiates joy to all
You soothe conflicts and nightmares as well.
20
Homage to you whose eyes, the sun and moon,
Radiate with pure brilliant light
Uttering HARA twice and TUTTARA
Dispels extremely fearful plagues.

21
Homage to you, adorned with three natures
Perfectly endowed with peaceful strength
You destroy demons, zombies and yakshas
O TURE, most exalted and sublime!

Thus the root mantra is praised
And twenty-one homages offered.

The Condensed Praise (recite in place of longer praises)

OM to the transcendent subduer, Arya Tara, I prostrate.
Homage to the glorious one who frees with TARE;
With TUTTARA you calm all fears;
You bestow all success with TURE;
To the sound SOHA I pay great homage.

Benefits of Reciting the Homage (optional)

Those endowed with perfect and pure respect for these goddesses--
The intelligent who recite these praises with most supreme faith
Both in the evening and upon waking at dawn--
Will have fearlessness bestowed on them by this remembrance.
After being purified of all evils completely,
They will attain destruction of all lower realms
And the seven million conquering Buddhas
Will quickly grant them every empowerment.
Thus they will attain greatness and so forth
To the ultimate state of supreme Buddhahood.
As a result all violent poisons--
Whether abiding within or spreading to others--
That they have eaten or drunk
By this remembrance will be completely removed
And they will eliminate quickly all afflictions by spirits, epidemics,
Poisons and all various sufferings.

If for oneself or for the sake of others,
These praises are read sincerely two, three or seven times,
Those wishing a child will have one
And those wishing wealth will attain this as well.
Without obstruction, all their wishes will be granted
And every single hinderance will be destroyed as it arises.

Visualization and Recitation
Visualize much radiant and blissful green light from the TAM and mantra at Tara's heart streams into you and into the sentient beings surrounding you. This light purifies the imprints of all negative actions and dispels sickness and harms from spirits. In addition, it brings inspirations and blessings from Tara, thus enabling you to realize the entire gradual path to enlightenment quickly. While doing this visualization, recite as much as possible Tara's peaceful mantra.

om tare tuttare ture soha

Requesting Prayer

O compassionate and venerable subduing goddess
May the infinite beings, including myself,
Soon purify the two obscurations and complete both collections
So that we may gain full enlightenment.
For all my lives, until I reach this stage,
May I know the happiness of humans and gods.
So that I may become fully omniscient,
Please pacify quickly all obstacles, spirits,
Obstructions, epidemics, diseases and so forth,
The various causes of untimely death,
Bad dreams and omens, the eight fears and other afflictions
And make it so they no longer exist.
May the mundane and supramundane collections
Of all excellent and auspicious qualities and happiness
Increase and develop and may all wishes
Be fulfilled naturally and effortlessly, without an exception.

May I strive to realize and increase the sacred Dharma
Accomplishing your stage and beholding your sublime face.
May my understanding of emptiness and the precious dedicated heart
Increase like the moon waxing full.
May I be reborn from an extremely beautiful and holy lotus
In the joyous and noble mandala of the conqueror.
May I attain whatever prophecy I receive
In the presence of Amitabha, Buddha of infinite light.
O deity, whom I have accomplished from previous lives
The enlightening influence of the three-time Buddhas
Blue-green, one face and two arms, the swift pacifier
O mother, holding an utpala flower, may you be auspicious!
Whatever your body, O Mother of Conquerors,
Whatever your retinue, life span and pure land,
May I and all others attain only these.
By the force of these praises and requests made to you,
May all disease, poverty, fighting and quarrels be calmed,
May the precious Dharma and everything auspicious increase
Throughout the world and directions where I and all others dwell.

Dedication and Auspicious Verses

Due to this merit may I soon
Attain the state of Arya Tara
That I may be able to liberate
All sentient beings from their suffering.
By whatever virtue I have collected
From venerating these subduing blessed ones,
May all sentient beings, without exception,
Be born in Sukhavati, the Joyful Pure Land.
You, who have abandoned all bodily defects and possess the signs and marks of a Buddha,
You, who have abandoned all defects of speech and possess a beautiful, sparrow-like voice,
You, who have abandoned all defects of mind and see all the infinite objects of knowledge,
O Brilliant Mother of Auspicious Glory, please bring your auspicious presence to us!

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