Vashitottamada Tara, Who Bestows Supreme Powers [8/21]

༄༅། །དབང་མཆོག་སྟེར་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏུ་རེ་འཇིགས་པ་ཆེན་པོས།
།བདུད་ཀྱི་དཔའ་བོ་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམས་མ། །
ཆུ་སྐྱེས་ཞལ་ནི་ཁྲོ་གཉེར་ལྡན་མཛད།
།དགྲ་བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་མ་ལུས་གསོད་མ། །

Homage to wrathful Tara of TURE,
before whose valour the hosts of hostile spirits
are subdued and turned in heart;
her lotus face suffused with kindness,
her knitted brow dissolving
delusion and unjust affliction.

Nghi quỹ tu trì Lục Độ Phật Mẫu, Drukpa lineage

Tara “who bestows supreme attainment”, also called Marasudhana Tara — the Tara “who destroys every mara”. She sits in the sattva paryanka posture, riding a makara upon a golden sun disc — or a white moon disc — and a red lotus. The makara, fierce of aspect with its gracefully curling golden tail, signifies the power to drive off every obstructing force.

She appears golden in colour, with one face, two eyes, four arms and a wrathful aspect. In her first right hand she holds the branch of an ashoka tree before her heart; her second right hand holds a radiant jewel in the gesture of granting boons (varada mudra). In her first left hand she holds a blue utpala lotus, signifying purity undefiled. In her second left hand she holds a golden flask, by which she bestows supreme power and blessing on all beings. She is adorned with divine silk garments and jewel ornaments, and above her crown appears the buddha Amoghasiddhi. She has the power to destroy the maras that obstruct enlightenment and to overcome every wrong view. The praise addressed to her is connected with the “completion stage” (Tib. rdzogs rim) of Vajrayana practice.

Curated and synthesised by
Jigme

References

1. Beer, Robert. “Twenty-One Taras (Suryagupta Tradition)”. Tibetan Buddhist and Newar Tantric Art. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.tibetanart.com/Product.asp?PID=10

2. The Gyalwang Drukpa. Nghi quỹ tu trì Lục Độ Phật Mẫu, Ý Nghĩa và Hướng Dẫn Thực Hành. Hà Nội: NXB Tôn Giáo, 2021.

3. Tsem Rinpoche. “Suryagupta’s 21 Taras”. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/suryaguptas-21-taras.html