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Green Tara of Wealth Teachings – Part 1

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Green Tara of Wealth Teachings – Part 1


By His Holiness Dungse Shenphen Dawa Rinpoche

May 2013

The following is the first section of teachings Rinpoche gave last Spring at Yeshe Nyingpo. The remaining two sections will be posted over the next couple of months.


Motivation/Inspiration

It is important to develop the right motivation. Recognizing the infinity of sentient beings limitless as space all connected to us as our fathers and mothers—in order to free these sentient beings from the ocean of suffering, in whatever state of existence they may be—then we will listen to this teaching of Green Tara, Tara of Wealth (Tib. Norgyunma). By swift blessings may we accomplish the two purposes, the liberation of self and others.


The Three Kayas of Tara

Now so far as the practice of Tara is concerned, different schools have different ways of interpreting the three kayas of Tara. In general, the ultimate Dharmakaya Tara practice is Kuntuzangmo or (Skt. Samantabhadrani). In the Sambhogakayaa aspect she is Dorje Palmo or (Skt. Vajravarahi). In the Nirmanakaya aspect, which is the tulku aspect, then she is Jestun Tröma or Mother Liberator and she also appears as Dorje Yangchenma and Lamo Palchemo. Another Nirmanakaya manifestation is as the Twenty-one Taras.  These are in the general teachings


Tara’s Aspects

According to the Nyingma Tersar she manifests as the outer, inner, secret and extremely secret – in these four aspects. In this lineage, the profound secret is the same as Samantabhadrani, Kuntuzangmo; inner is Kuru Kule; and outer is, Tröma, Kroda Kali; and outer is also the twenty-one main manifestations of Tara. That is one way. In another way, the extremely secret is Kuntuzangmo; then inner is Dorje Palmo; outer is Tröma Ngagmo; and again there are the manifestations of all the twenty-one Taras, including Yeshe Tsogyal and the many many wisdom dakinis who have also manifested. These are the whole host of dakinis that have appeared from then on. This is another way of looking at it.


Swiftest Liberator of all Fears and Sufferings

Therefore, the feminine principle points to the way of bliss and the way of liberating that bliss. Now as far as the practice of Tara is concerned, she is called Drolma Palmo, noble mother Arya Tara, the liberator of all fears and sufferings. In one sense she can liberate our mind streams and in another, whatever mental fears we have, she can give protection, she is swift at that.  She can dissolve all the sixteen fears that are there. She can subjugate all demonic forces, all illnesses and all epidemics – all of these. There is no one swifter than Tara to remove them. She is known for her swiftness when you ask her for help. There are some deities who will not respond so quickly. But in the case of Tara she is very quick and immediate to respond to your call when you call for her.


Tara’s Vajra Statement

Similarly with any sudden fears that come to us, if you can just utter the words, “Noble mother Arya Tara, you who know, please liberate me from this suffering,” this is all you say. You do not need to go into a very elaborate recitation. No need. All you need to say is this, “Noble mother, Arya Tara, you who know, please liberate me from these sufferings.” That’s not hard. In addition, she says that if you say these words, she will definitely come and remove that suffering. That is her vow; that is her promise; that is her vajra statement. This is the vajra statement that she said to Dudjom Lingpa, His Holiness’ predecessor, when she appeared in front of him and said, “These two lines are the essence of my practice; just call out to me by these two lines.” That’s it! So with great devotion in your heart, pray to her, invoke her, do her practice.


Tara in this Practice

Now in this practice that we are doing, we would consider Samantabhadrani as the Dharmakaya, Kuru Kule as the Sambhogakaya manifestation and Tröma as the Nirmanakaya. Then in the general manifestion, the practice is Jetsun Drolma. This is all Tara. Then before Tara appears we have to visualize the four cardinal mothers manifesting in the East, West, South and North: – in the East, Yangchenma; in the West Rigchema; in the South, Ursema; and in the North, Norgyunma, Green Tara of wealth.

Then in the four directions you also have the four protectresses – the feminine manifestation of the four protectresses – and you have the twenty-one Taras relating to the sixteen fears; whether it be fire, epidemic illnesses, earthquakes, war, famine, disease, whatever; each of the twenty-one Taras has the skillful means to swiftly remove specific fears and suffering we have.


Wealth’ is Wisdom

In this particular case, we are talking now about the teachings of the Tara of Wealth. Please don’t misunderstand wealth to mean only material gains. Rather, in this context, it is important to understand wealth as wisdom. There is no higher wealth than wisdom. Within wisdom everything is spontaneously self-accomplished. If you have wisdom you will have the skillful means of executing that wisdom. In this Tara practice, you not only have the root mantra of her practice: – Om Vasudharani Soha but you also have Om Tam So Ha – at the end – for the four activities of pacifying, empowering, magnetizing, and subjugating.


Right Motivation

Now, when you do this practice of Green Tara, please have the right motivation.  To have the appropriate motivation in the beginning is crucial. It is critical that you develop it correctly. Don’t just say, “May I attain this and that…” Your motivation must be for the benefit of all sentient beings at the beginning, middle and end of your practice. In particular, when you begin the practice since we are following the Vajrayana path, Vajrayana is practice with a big mind, that is, expanded practice for all; practice that involves all beings. So when you begin, you have to think of all sentient beings. In this respect, think of your father and mother on either side of you; think of your friends in front of you; think of the host of all sentient beings behind you; the infinity of all sentient beings are with you doing the practice. That is important. The more you can expand your mind and include them, the more will be the merit. If you think only of yourself, what merit can there be? But if you think of the infinity of all sentient beings, then this is like a drop of water that you take on you finger; if you put this in the ocean then that drop which mixes with the ocean will never dry out. It becomes infinite.


Working with Bodhicitta

Bodhicitta that includes all sentient beings is important. Work with bodhicitta —you have to work with the bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is not about paying mere lip service—just saying things like, “I love you, I love all…I love everyone…” It is not some kind of lip service, which has no meaning at all, but just sounds good to the ear—nothing more. Just knowing that you can get butter and yogurt from milk is not enough. By just looking at milk and saying, “butter and yogurt!” you are not going to magically conjure up butter and milk. You have to churn the milk to get butter and yogurt. Similarly, you have to work with bodhicitta. You have to work with your mind training, exchanging self for others (Tib. tonglen) and your post-meditation (Tib. jethop) practice. This is vital. Therefore the training on the thirty-seven practices of a bodhisattva is very important; the training on the four joys and the six paramitas is also extremely important. The blessings all depend on how much you’ve managed to open your mind. What kind of devotion do you have to the teachings – not just to this teaching in particular, but to the words of the Buddha, and the wisdom they contain in general? How much confidence do you have in these? Much of the blessings is based on your own mind and how mature it is.


Wealth for All

In this practice, when you think of wealth, think of the wealth for all sentient beings and say, “May I remove the suffering of all beings; may I be a gem, a wish-fulfilling gem that fulfills the wishes of all my parent sentient beings.” With this practice have the kind of awareness that you are a gem that fulfills the wishes of all beings and that you’re the kind of person whereby whoever comes into contact with you gains a sense of the blessings of realization, a sense of what the truth really is – a sense of the truth itself.


The Eight-Petaled Lotus at the Heart

In the practice of Tantra we visualize an eight-petaled lotus in the heart, upon which is a sun and moon along with all the syllables sitting on this sun and moon. All your inner yidam practice sits on that sun and moon. The eight-petaled lotus signifies the feminine bliss principle of realization. These eight petals of the lotus are the eight blisses of realization. They are the eight drops. Later on, in the practice of trekchod and togyal, when you come to the atoms, these are the eight atoms that will fuse into ultimate Dharmakaya. That is what we visualize in our heart. So we visualize the lotus in our heart upon which all deities manifest. That means, the base in our heart is the wisdom Dharmakaya within which all must manifest.


Pure Vision

So therefore then, in most of the pictures you will see Yeshe Tsogyal totally naked, holding a curved knife and a kapala. She is standing up. In most of the deity pictures you will see something like that. What she’s saying is, “Don’t see me as a sexual object.” Because if we see a feminine principle as a sexual object, that is the very thing that will throw us into samsara. What she is saying by her nakedness and her white reddish color is, “Don’t abandon your poisons take them onto the path. Through the practice of union – all union you experienceliberate that union into the union of the kayas.” So, we have to free that concept and have a purer vision towards the feminine principle. You should see them as your source of enlightenment, that’s what it is.


The Three Experiences of Meditation

All union, in the general sense, is for health but in the inner sense it is for realization. But as I said earlier when you do shiné or whatever practice, an ultimate aspect of the practice is bliss. (Tib. dewai nyam, selwai nyam, and metog psi nyam) – the experiences of bliss, clarity and non-thought. The three experiences of any meditation are to do first with dewa. What is dewa? dewa is bliss. And what is bliss? Bliss shatters the conceptualizing mind. That’s what bliss shatters. Bliss is healing, bliss is medicine and bliss will shatter the gross phenomena. That’s what bliss will shatter.


If we look into the practice now, first it begins with “Namo…” The namo itself is, “Praise be, obeisance, I bow my head down to you. I offer you my respects”. Namo is bowing yourself down with respect. In another sense it is like you are offering a prostration. And prostration is what? The act of prostration symbolizes surrendering your ego. When you surrender your ego you put yourself lower down on the floor; you say, “You are greater than me, I surrender myself to you and I take refuge in you”. It’s a sign of taking refuge in the ultimate. That is a full, lying down prostration. At the same time, lying down has the symbol of asking the mother  Buddhas to witness your taking the vows to benefit others and the earth mother Goddess to accept you.  As your knees, hands and head – the five points – touch the earth, you surrender the five poisons for the five wisdoms.

This is the symbol of you prostrations. You are not bending down and lying out flat to make someone happy. Rather it is about surrendering of your poisons and transforming them into the natural wisdom that is there. Within wisdom there are the poisons; within the poisons are the wisdoms. They are inseparable; they are one and the same. So, “Namo, I prostrate; obeisance to Tara; who is the mother of all the Buddhas; who’s venerated by all the Buddhas; who is the embodiment of all the kayas and buddhafields; who is holder of all the teachings; to you noble one who is swift in giving and granting me blessings; dispelling my fears; removing all sicknessdemonic, physical, mental; along with all fears that are connected to and which disturb my mind; I pay homage to you the dispeller of all my fears; Mother Tara to you I pay homage.” You recite this verse of refuge with all of this in mind.


Mother TaraLama

Now from the point of Vajrayana, here Mother Tara is your lama, your yidam and your khandro. That is exactly what she is. So here ‘la ma’ means exalted; something that is heavy with blessings and heavy with virtue. Lama has the sense of most exalted, going beyond; nothing… nothing more excellent than that. She is called ‘La ma Nye Pa’, and the ‘la ma’ here means excellent exalted mother. Ma signifies motherliness. So, the lama is undeceiving; the lama has these great qualities. The lama is not like a god who has anger and jealousy and still has poisons. Even though they may live for an inconceivably long time, they are not realized, that’s the point; they still hold to phenomena with pride.  

The lama is one who does not hold to the phenomena of duality; he does not hold to anything. He understands the absolute and the relative truths; he has combined these. Lama is the diamond mind that cannot be cut; that cannot be destroyed; that cannot be contaminated; that cannot be polluted.  That is the nature of lama; indestructible, strong and fixed. Those are the qualities of the vajra and the lama is the vajra. So, that wordlama’ has a great meaning to understand Bodhicitta

“You Jetsun Ma – you are the embodiment of the buddha, embodiment of the dharma and you are the embodiment of the sangha. You are the three Jewels embodied. With devotion to you, I and all sentient beings equal to space go for refuge…” I have already told you that your practice always involves ‘you, me and all beings.’ So from the start we must begin with the correct motivation of including all sentient beings in our practice. That’s what this implies, ‘I and all,’ it doesn’t imply, ‘I take refuge only for myself; may I have the blessings only for me’ – that ‘only’ for the self is not here. It does not entertain your self-existence; it does not entertain that at all. So, the correct motivation begins with taking refuge for myself and others – me and all.


Liberating Poverty and Suffering

“In order to liberate all sentient beings from extreme poverty and suffering…” So this poverty and suffering is not only a reflection on material wealth but it also refers to the suffering of the mind. In addition it refers to the wish that, ‘May I gain wisdom so that I don’t make stupid mistakes and fall into suffering again.’ Most of the time suffering arises due to unskillful decisions that we take and execute. That is where suffering comes from. At the same time we think these unskillful actions are right and positive. So in the general sense, here we are asking to be woken up from ignorance and to be granted wisdom.


Removing the Mental State of Poverty

In addition, in the inner sense it is asking to have all poverty removed – the poverty that has stricken us so that we cannot move from this mental state of dearth. Therefore we pray to Tara, “Please liberate us from this extreme poverty and suffering – whatever is causing harm and suffering in my mind – please liberate us from that.” So in order to liberate that, what we need to do is to determine that, “I will accomplish the state of Goddess Tara of continuous wealth so that I can help others.” The predominant point here is others; self is not there. If you help others, self will be included in others. If you think of self and don’t include others, then there is nothing included for yourself. By thinking of others you receive the blessings and the benefit. By not thinking of others, but only thinking of yourself, you will not get anything. The collective karma that you can give happiness to, is what you will enjoy as the fruit. So you have to repeat this refuge and bodhicitta prayer three times at the beginning of the practice.  It is important that when you repeat this, you repeat it with sincerity and meaning, thinking, “Yes, this is what it really is.”


Visualizing the Luminous Body

When you visualize her body, you have to visualize her body luminous – absolutely luminous. Don’t visualize her body as solid like ours. Don’t visualize like that; that is not right.  Her body is like hollow glass. Buddhas don’t have organs like we have. For them, their bodies have already radiated into luminosity. That’s what it is. So you have to visualize her body extremely luminous with nothing inside; just like hollow glass. In addition she is smiling radiantly and seductively.


The CrownFive Buddha Families

On her head she is wearing the crown of the five Buddha families; Om Ah Hung Tram Hri Ah – up on the crown, meaning the five Buddhas are her sons and she has also been empowered by the five Buddha families to become their mother. Om is in the centre and the Ah Hung Tram Hri Ah are arranged around it, on the top of a precious jeweled diadem (crown). The Om Ah Hung Tram Hri Ah is woven together on this precious diadem made of precious jewels.


Satellite Connection

This light of hers is going out saying, “You are my mother and father sentient beings, I love you all. Whatever your suffering is, I’ll remove it.” This is healing light; blessing light; light that is healing and blessing at the same time. So this light must touch everything. Whenever you have a thought, even remote thought, this light touches that. There is nothing that it will not touch. So this light now, you have to see it as a connection.  It is connecting all the six realms to Tara. The light is like a satellite that it going out and connecting. We are creating the line of communication. These lights are molecules that are touching and going, touching and going.  Touching in what sense? They are gathering the blessings of all the buddhas, lamas, yidams and khandros. All the blessings are being absorbed and traveling back to the six realms. She is now making a link of receiving and sending; receiving and sending. That’s important. In fact, she is getting energized by all the buddhas. Then she’s sending out that energy, back to all sentient beings. So the stream of light is coming in and the stream of light is emitting. That is what is happening. From the infinite she is taking the blessings and then to the existing world she is transmitting the blessings.


First – the Outer Absorption

So stay a little bit in that absorption. Let’s not rush immediately into the Tam at the heart. Let’s first purify the outer form. That’s what this light is doing. Then we can purify the inner awareness of the mind, which is the Tam. Let’s wait and do the outer first. As I told you she is radiantly smiling because she’s seductive. She will use seduction to get those that will not be subdued by any other means.  So first this light is just going from the body. At first, let’s forget the light from the Tam; First just concentrate on the light from the molecules of the outer body that are now collecting and transmitting; collecting and transmitting.


Second – the Inner Absorption

(Rinpoche refers to the text again…)The next stage… “In the centre of her heart is the green letter Tam.” So now, here it’s time to get into the next gear. The next gear involves her heart, which should be pointed upwards. Now we come to the meditation on the inner, that is, on the heart. Here it says that standing at the heart, on a moon disc, is the letter Tam. Now in this case you may visualize a sun and moon disc upon an eight-petaled lotus, or just a moon disc on the lotus, along with the green syllable Tam on top of this.


Tam at the Heart Faces Out

So this syllable Tam, which sits on a lotus and moon disc, is the heart essence of Norgyunma – it’s her heart essence -Tam.  Now, generally people think, as you visualize this, that the Tam faces flat or sideways on the heart, on the lotus sun and moon disc. But that is not the way it is. The back portion of the Tam must come straightforward, so the back of the Tam faces out (i.e. the right side of the Tibetan syllable faces out.)


Mantric Motor

Of course, this syllable is surrounded by the mantra syllables Om Basu Dharani Soha, which are arranged anti-clockwise; spinning clockwise. Now Om Basu Dharani Soha surrounds this Tam completely with no gap in between. It has to be sealed very carefully. It is like a coil. You know when the coil spins you get the power like in a motor. That’s exactly what this is – this is the dharma motor. But as I said earlier, at this moment, you will not be able to spin, so don’t try spinning. This will happen after you have really recited a lot correctly. Then when you have concentrated properly on the syllable Tam, the syllables Om Basu Dharani Soha will slowly try to rise up to the middle neck of the Tam. When you have reached that level then you are already quite enlightened – I will come for teachings then! (Rinpoche laughs.)  So in the beginning, don’t force these syllables to move; just visualize them going around but don’t put your mind’s energy into it; don’t push it. There is nothing to push. Everything is natural. If you push it then the result won’t be good. Rather, leave it there and feel that it is going to spin one day. That’s it – then it will spin. So say Om Basu Dharani Soha, Om Basu Dharani Soha – as much as you can. Recite that. In the process of the recitation, then, as I told you, sometimes say Om Tam Soha, which relates to the four activities of pacifying, empowering, magnetizing and subjugating.


The Heart of the Meditation

Now let me get into the heart of the meditation. Just as this Tam is green in color, so obviously Om Basu Dharani Soha is also green. Please don’t try to make this multi-colored, just keep it green. She comes from the green Buddha field, called Yalo Kaupa so the green signifies her buddhafield. The quality of this field is emerald, that is, the stone connected to Green Tara is emerald. So keep all the letters surrounding the green Tam in the center, green.  Now we are required to do the inner meditation of Tam. From Tam a stream of light shoots out again. So now there are two lights. First is your general light of the body of Tara, which is one thing – but now there is the inner mind, clarity and awareness of Tara, which is another. This is her mind syllable, the essence of her heart and mind. This Tam represents her buddhafield and it represents the mystic power that she has. Within Tam, its power will create and destroy. The Tam is both creator and destroyer. It is like a hydrogen bomb. The instant it is let out, it will destroy everything into nothing and in one instant the same Tam can create all phenomena. So this is the most powerful energy of Tara. The Tam is the creative and destructive energy all in one.  When these two are in one, there are also tremendous blessings to receive with the power of this Tam.


Radiating and Absorbing from the Heart

Now inwardly you will meditate on this Tam and the surrounding syllables.   First, from the surrounding syllables, energy that has already radiated out will now be absorbed into the Tam. It is the fuel for the fire. You need wood to get fire, no? The Om Basu Dharani Soha is the fuel that needs to heat the Tam so that the Tam’s energy can be created. So from this Tam and Om Basu Dharani Soha, all the lights go into the Tam, and the Tam’s light then shoots out into millions and trillions of rays. Now these lights are multicolored they are not just green because they represent the five wisdoms. So multicolored lights will shoot out of the Tam and go to all the buddha fields, making offerings, just as you were doing from the body before, but this involves more inner, inner offerings now.

This has more potential. So this light will go and reach all the buddha fields, yidams and all the dakas and dakinis; innumerable male and female sages; male and female bodhisattvas; the infinity of all the practices that we have been doing and within which all the peaceful and wrathful buddhas are arising – this goes out as an offering to all of those fields and realms. In fact this light touches all the atoms of the space. It touches in that it provokes that mind. It requests these buddhas to, “Please, please turn your mind towards us sentient beings – we are suffering.” It is invoking their mind to look down and not remain in absolute meditation, but to just look down. At the same time the light radiates out again to all the six realms. Again, just as you did earlier with the visualization using the lights of the body, animate and inanimate objects are all purified; they are all blessed; their sufferings are removed.


Removing Obstacles –  BlessingsFaith

In particular, these rays of light that are now touching all of us will remove all our corporal negative karma and mental pain that we have. This is about blessing and removing obstacles of the body and, of course, the mind, and removing all the negative spirits that are there. So whatever kind of suffering we have, this is the ultimate blessing that will remove that. Whatever needs to be removed for whoever desires it, this will now be removed. It is based upon your wish of whatever needs to be removed. If you have a nerve disease or something that you want removed, this is the time to take the blessings; then it will be healed. Actually there is nothing that it will not heal and nothing that it will not cure. If your faith in her is strong enough, any seemingly incurable disease can be cured. That is the power of the blessing. The only thing that limits the blessings towards you, are your own mind’s limitations. It has nothing to do with Tara.


Tam like a Trillion Sun’s – Tara’s Face like a Million Moons

So this Tam goes into all directions like the sun shining everywhere; going, collecting; going, collecting – that’s what it’s doing. Due to the power of the buddhas, the Tam becomes brighter and brighter and brighter because it takes the energy of the buddhas to make it even more bright. So the Tam becomes like a sun of hundred, million, trillion strength. The face of Tara herself is so beautiful, it is like a million moons shining at the same time. That is how her face is described; that is how gorgeous it is. We may not actually be able to look at her face.


Tara’s Manifestations

The kindness of Tara is such that her manifestations in the Nirmanakaya are vast and infinite. Many of the Teachersconsorts have been emanations of Tara – many of them. Dudjom Lingpa’s consort was Tara. When she finished her work, she said, “I am now going to Yalo Kaupa. Goodbye.” and she took her body and went to Yalo Kaupa. Guru Rinpoche often sends an emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal to yogis who need blessing and realization. He just instructs them to go there. To give the last empowerment of rigpa, the ‘Rigpai Sel Wang,’ that is, the last empowerment involving the total dissolution of your body into radiant, rainbow light; that blessing has to be received from a dakini.

The ultimate method must dissolve into wisdom – that’s what this means. The ultimate realization must be from the dakinis’s hand. There are no two ways about it. Because the dakini is auspiciousness, (Tib. tashipo tendrel zangpoGuru Rinpoche would send Yeshe Tsogyal many times to many different yogis and practitioners, and many consorts of yogis and practitioners have been emanations of dakinis. Their field and expression, how they work to benefit sentient beings cannot be fathomed in our minds; we cannot fathom that.


Rays of Light Offerings==


So we visualize the Tam radiating masses of rays of light – going, offering to the buddhas then coming down – and the Tam becoming even brighter. Then the rays of light go to all phenomena, to all the worlds and universes that exist. In doing that, it removes all the suffering of all sentient beings; it removes the poverty; it removes all the calamities; it removes all the diseases. It is one activity that benefits every kind of suffering that there is. That’s what it does.


The Full Activity of the Buddhas

So in that then, you should feel you are doing the full activity of the buddhas while reciting Om Basu Dharani Soha and then sometimes reciting Om Tam Soha, Om Tam Soha. Now Om Basu Dharani Soha is called Nyenpa; Om Tam Soha is called Lejur – what is accumulated and recited. Nyenpa and Lejor will come into every sadhana practice. So Lejur is the skillful means of being beneficial to sentient beings. Later on you will go into a more elaborate practice of the Tara; the sadhana will be longer and there will be a mandala confession of Tara, which I did not include here because it is a few more pages. That is there, where you can do the eight-mandala offering to Tara. In addition, there are many different practices for Tara. This is a short one that His Holiness has given us.


Dissolution

Now in the dissolution – this is very short here, so those of you who have the elaborate practice of Tara – where you know her buddhafield – you know the palace and you know how the Buddha field is described – if you know that, apply it here. Though it is not said here, it is understood that when you instantly become Tara, you become the whole buddhafield of Tara. It is not like you are in you ordinary surroundings in New York City and you become Tara. First the buddha field manifests. If you have the visualization of the buddhafield of Tara then visualize this buddhafield, upon which you arise. Now again if you have this full visualization then first dissolve the buddhafield and all the activity within that field, dissolve this into yourself as Tara. The second dissolution is that you dissolve into the Tam and the surrounding syllables. In the third dissolution, the lotus petals now dissolve into the surrounding syllables. Om Bhasu Dharani Soha then dissolves into the Tam.

Now you are left with the Tam only; everything else has dissolved. Tam dissolves from bottom to top into emptiness, until not even the bindu remains – nothing is left. So when you have dissolved directly into that, then please remain for some time in this continuous mind-stream. This continuous mind-stream that is without any reference, without anything to verbalize or describe, is the mind of Tara. In that moment you are already in the innate mind of Tara, so just remain in this quietly.

There is nothing to utter, nothing to describe. You are in the moment awareness, the very moment awareness of Tara.  That is beautiful; that is such a blessing. For a moment you experience your whole body and your entire mind transforming into Tara. Remain for a while and absorb that understanding. You don’t have to verbalize anything here. Just remain. But, of course, you won’t be able to remain long; all of a sudden, your ordinary thoughts come in again. When your ordinary thoughts come in again, immediately go to the awareness of pure vision. What that means is to see all form as the form of Tara; hear all sound as the sound of mantra; and as for your mind, feel it is resting as the mind of Tara.


Re-Emerging

So the next line, the second line here – ‘Once again the illusory form of the deity appears…’—means just that. The illusory form of the deity is the pure vision that we have to have to deal with our ordinary thoughts, that is, before our ordinary thoughts interfere.


The Dedication

Then after that, of course, as I’ve always told you, the dedication is important. If you don’t dedicate the merit, you don’t get much merit. So dedicate the merit for all. The text here is easy to understand – ‘May everything be auspicious; may everyone have the wealth that they desire; may everyone’s fears be removed; may everything at all times always be auspicious for everyone; may they never say anything inauspicious’ – meaning may no negative obstacles come to any sentient being ever. This is what you wish for all sentient beings. Wish that for them. That is good!



When to do this Practice

So far as the practice is concerned you can practice this any time. There’s no specific time. There are certain practices that require you to practice in the morning or the evening or such like. This practice you can practice anytime you have a moment. So then, please do the practice.


The Accumulations

The main accumulation of the practice is Om Bhasu Dharani Soha, that is your main accumulation. After your main accumulation each day when you’ve finished this, then say Om Tam Soha about twenty-one times. The Om Tam Soha concerns the four activities mantra, called Naljor in Tibetan. These are the four activities that have to be accomplished. Normally in the elaborate practice of Tara, with the naljor, each of these activity mantras that you have to say is specific. However, this is the concise heart essence of each of these naljor mantras. But the most important thing is the main mantra, Om Bhasu Dharani Soha. When you say this, don’t say it too loud and don’t say it too soft. It is a medium collar length recitation, which means slightly audible. In addition, make sure that the pronunciation is correct. (Rinpoche enunciates clearly each syllable…) OM BHA SU DHA RA NI SO HA.


Mantra Recitation

Now when we say this mantra, or any mantra of a given deity, the specific action of the mantra is to stimulate all the cords; the nerves that are in our body. Beginning from our crown, to our throat, to our heart, to our navel and to our secret centre, all the five chakras will be energized. That is the point of the mantra. Mantra is not just some ordinary words you are saying. Mantra has a specific aim and specific purpose to move these chakras in our body. So when you say Om Bhasu Dharani Soha… when you say ‘Ha’ you should feel the nerves of your secret centre begin to move, tingle or vibrate slightly. Mantra is geared for that. And in particular, since mantra itself is based on the principle of wisdom then – sure – it will hit the wisdom channel more than anything else. It will hit directly all the wisdom channels that are there. It will fine-tune those nerves in which the wisdom winds are not going properly. So say that correctly, Om Bhasu Dharani Soha. Also – some advice here – during your recitation 

of the practice manta – don’t move, don’t make signs and don’t drink. Follow the discipline of mantra. Mantrayana has a lot of disciplines that you have got to keep. If you are seated, be seated in that one place don’t move around. If it happens that you recite the mantra while you are walking around, then that’s ok, you can do this, but that cannot really be counted as an accumulation. I mean it is good rather than talk nonsense at least to say some mantra while going around the place. It is better. Definitely, it is better.

But as far as the effectiveness is concerned, though there will be some blessings, you are not really distilling it fully, that’s the thing. So if you have time, sit quietly to do the practice. You can do it at any time of day, even at night – it doesn’t matter. Wisdom is prevalent at all times it is not like wisdom is only present in the daytime. It is not like that. However, whatever other teachings you may have, please follow those teachings; whatever your Teacher has said, do this. All termas are different, all teachings are different. There are different requirements for different teachings so don’t think one discipline covers every teaching in every aspect. It doesn’t. In this particular teaching, I have said that this is the way to do it, so please do it as described.


The Three Principles of Practice

Then, as I said at the beginning, motivation is important. Make sure that you include all sentient beings. Second, the visualization must be correct, which I’ve already explained to you. And thirdly the dedication must be correct. So dedicate again the merit for all sentient beings. There is very little point ending a sadhana practice without dedicating. It is simply incomplete. The dedication is extremely important.


The Visualization – Overview

Now as far as the visualization is concerned, one visualizes oneself as Norgyunma. Nor means wealth, gyunma is one that gives without ceasing, continuously giving wealth – she’s not going to stop – constantly she gives. So, in the heart, here in the sadhana, on a moon disc is a syllable Tam. Now the thing to remember when you visualize the syllable Tam – many people think that the Tam is like a letter you see that’s flat. No. It’s not flat, Tam is facing out. The back of the Tam comes out. It doesn’t stay flat. And very important, you should visualize it as multidirectional.  What does this mean? It means it is like a hologram so you can see the syllable throughout, everywhere you go around it; you can see the front and the whole together without obstruction. That’s what that is, (Tib. Tam Jangku)—green in color.


Green Tam is the heart essence of Tara, surrounded by the mantra syllables Om Bhasu Dharani Soh at the base of the Tam. NowOm Bhasu Dharani Soha must be completely joined from beginning to end. This means Om Bhasu Dharani Soha forms a perfect circle. Tam is in the middle and Om Bhasu Dharani Soha surrounds it at the base of the moon disc. Once that mantra is on a lunar disc surrounding the Tam, at this time, you will not really have the power to spin it, so don’t try to do this. Still eventually this Om Bhasu Dharani Soha must spin and it must spin with the letters arranged anti-clockwise. Generally, most male mantras spin clockwise, whereas female mantras go anti-clockwise.

This particular mantra goes from your right to your left. In contrast for example, Guru Rinpoche’s mantra goes from left to right. Again this is specific to this teaching. Some other teachings may say that it goes the other way. Then please follow the instructions given, whatever they may be, for any given practice. Don’t assume one set of instructions applies to other teachings. Whatever the terton’s instructions for a terma practice is, then do that. Don’t just go with what you have heard or think it might be. So, first recite, Om Bhasu Dharani Soha. Then after that recitation has finished, recite Om Tam So Ha just for one mala or twenty-one times is ok. Minimum is twenty-one times; otherwise you can do one mala. If you want to do two malas, do two; if you want to do three malas… that’s also fine. It doesn’t matter but the minimum is twenty-one times.


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