Brilliant Rays of Light

A Commentary on the Praise to Tārā

by Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen

Homage to the noble lady Tārā!

Homage to Tārā, she who liberates from the suffering of saṃsāra. She is swift in
aiding beings and gallant in conquering afflictions. Her glance flashes like flares of
lightning, a statement that serves as an analogy for its luminosity. She was born on
the heart of a blossoming lotus or utpala flower that rose from the tears of the
Triple-World’s Lord, Avalokiteśvara. (1)

Homage to her, whose countenance is comparable to many hundreds of full moons,

each as radiantly white as on the fifteenth day of the lunar month, gathered together
in autumn. This image illustrates the immeasurable number of light-rays that shine
from her; this is also conveyed by the image of her smiling and glowing with
brilliant radiance, like a thousand stars clustered, ablaze. (2)

Homage, golden-blue coloured lady, shining like the light reflected upon refined
gold. A lotus is held in her left hand; it is graced with the symbolic implement of a
water-born lotus flower.1 Through the practice of the six pāramitās: the pāramitā of
generosity; the pāramitā of diligence; the pāramitā of endurance; serenity, or, the
pacification of afflictions; the pāramitā of patience; and the pāramitā of meditation;
and through embodying the pāramitā of wisdom, she attained the form of the
goddess Tārā. This is illustrated by her emblem, the utpala flower. (3)

Homage to her, whose total victories over demons, enemies, and all such opposing
forces are endless. She is the jewel adorning all the great Tathāgatas’ crowns. She is
well served, honoured, and praised by all the bodhisattvas, the heirs of the Victors,
those who’ve accomplished all the pefections—the ten pāramitās, which are the
essence of all ten bhūmis. (4)

Homage to her, who with the power and light from the mantra syllables tuttāre2
and hūṃ, fills the desire realms, and the form realm, and the formless realm, unto
the ends of space. She tramples underfoot the seven worlds—the five types of
desire realm for the five types of beings, and the form and formless realms—and has
the strength to summon—to bring others, like kings, under her control—and to fulfil
all the wishes of sentient beings. (5)

Homage to her, praised and venerated by Indra, the king of gods, and by Agni,
Brahmā, Maruts, and their lord, the great and powerful Śiva. All the eight classes of
gods and demons; the bhūtas, such as Gaṇapati; the vetālas, such as Maheśvara; the

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gandharvas, such as Pañcaśikha; and the yakṣas, such as Vaiśravaṇa, pay tribute to
her. (6)

Homage to her, who with the fierce utterances of traḍ and phaṭ crushes the
enemies’ yantras,3 all their evil concoctions, to dust, thereby averting their schemes.
With the posture of the right leg bent in and left leg extended, shining, she treads
or tramples, the meaning of which is explained above, amidst flames wildly blazing,
a sign of her majestic stance. (7)

Homage to her, who with the sound of ture4 dispels the dangerous demons.5 She is
the fearsome lady, for she strikes terror into these demons. She is the destroyer of
the most powerful demons of the afflictions. Having conquered them, she defeats
the other three demons as soon as they arise.6 Tārā’s lotus-face, like a blooming
lotus flower, is astonishingly beautiful like that of a heroine, while her deep-
furrowed brow reveals her wrath. She is the slayer of each and every foe, such as
the opposing forces of the afflictions. (8)

Homage to her, whose left thumb and ring-fingers gracefully hold a lotus flower to
her heart. Her three other fingers are extended to symbolize or display the mudrā of
the Three Jewels. Her right hand is extended in the mudrā of supreme generosity,
and the palm is graced by a wheel adorning every direction.7 Light streams forth
from this wheel, in a dazzling radiance that overwhelms all. (9)

Homage to her, who fulfils the wishes of all sentient beings with supreme joy. She is
beautified by a radiantly jewelled garland that crowns her head in a splendour that
outshines all others. Smiling and laughing with the sound of the mantra tuttāre, it
is through the laughter of this mantra that she brings demons and the world under
control. (10)

Homage to her, who can summon the hosts of earthly guardians, the guardians of
the ten directions; they follow her orders and thus act as her messengers.8 Her
frown it quivers, for she is the wrathful lady, whose heart center is marked bythe
syllable hūṃ. She delivers all of us sentient beings from the suffering of every
misfortune—the torment of bad circumstances and absence of good circumstances—
thereby establishing us in bliss. (11)

Homage to her, who’s so brightly adorned with a sliver of moon, which resembles
that of the first day of the lunar month, as her crown, blazing with rays of light.
Amongst her locks resides Amitābha, Buddha of Boundless Light, who graces her as
another crown ornament. His gleaming rays stream forever forth, constantly
benefitting sentient beings with the shining of his boundless light. (12)

Homage to her, seated in a halo blazing with apocalyptic flames, just like those of
the seven suns which burn all the earth, stones, and mountains at the end of the eon.

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Her posture, with her right leg stretched out and left bent inward, is the opposite of
before. Immersed in joy, she crushes all the opposing forces, the legions of foes. (13)

Homage to her, who on the earth’s surface strikes her left palm and makes the
threatening mudrā and stamps her feet. Her brow deeply furrowed, with the
utterance of the syllable hūṃ, light shoots forth from the vajra in her right hand.
This light fills the seven netherworlds and all their obstacles are dispelled.9 (14)

Homage to her, the lady who is blissful, since she is endowed with untainted bliss;
and gracious, because she is free from what needs to be abandoned, the afflictions.10
She acts out of the domain of the peace—the pacification of suffering—of nirvāṇa,
which is the total exhaustion of all thoughts. With the essence of her enlightened
from, oṃ and svāhā in perfect union, she lays to waste every terrible evil—the
afflictions of others, which must be abandoned. (15)

Homage to her, who, immersed in rapture, shatters the bodies of all her foes. She
manifests from the wisdom-syllable hūṃ, for this is the essence of her wrathful
mantra—oṃ namas tāre namo hare hūṃ hare svāhā. She likewise displays each of
her peaceful mantra’s ten syllables—oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā. (16)

Homage to Ture, whose wrathful emanation enters a dance. Her feet stomping
boldly, she pacifies obstacles wherever they may be. Her wrathful body is born or
formed from the seed of the syllable hūṃ. The supreme mountain of the three-
thousand-fold world system, called Mandara, is pierced by the light radiating from
the syllable hūṃ.11 All the three worlds—the desire, form and formless realms—she
causes them to quake. (17)

Homage to her, who holds in her hand the maṇḍala of a deer-marked moon, which
is likened to a divine lake. This is a sign that she has cleared away the poison of the
afflictions. With tāra twice and then with phaṭ, and with the mantra tāre, she
totally cleanses all of the poisons of the world and all that moves within it. (18)

Homage to her, who is served—worshipped—by kings of hosts divine, and leaders

of gods and of the kiṃnaras, such as King Druma. She is suited or manifests in a
deity’s form and mantra, which serves as her armour of joy and splendour. She
dispels all nightmares, soothes away the strife caused by those opposed to the
Dharma. (19)

Homage to her, whose eyes become sources of shining light. They both shine with
luster, bright with the fullness of her right eye, represented by the sun, and her left
eye, represented by the moon. With twice-uttered hara—a mantra that is both
peaceful and wrathful—and tuttāre she pacifies all, including the most intractable
diseases. (20)

Homage to her, who has the power to free us from all afflictions. She puts forth the

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realities of enlightened body, speech and mind as a set of three—the syllables oṃ, āḥ
and hūṃ. Supreme Ture, she completely pacifies and destroys all opposing forces
—the hordes of grahas, vetālas, and yakṣas that create obstacles—through the
power of the ten-syllable mantra. (21)

This Praise with the twenty-one verses of homage

Is itself the root mantra of all peaceful and wrathful Tārās.

The wise who recite these words in earnest,12 with body, speech and mind filled
with devotion for this goddess, (22)

Should recall her wrathful form at dusk, and also having risen at dawn her peaceful
form. With the mere recollection of her divine form, they will be granted
fearlessness; and likewise, just by recollecting her, they will utterly eliminate all
misdeeds, and surmount all evil destinies, their results. (23)

Seventy million victorious buddhas will swiftly and immediately confer

empowerment upon them, and they will attain the common result of greatness in
this world, and not only that, but they will also reach the ultimate state of
buddhahood. (24)

Even the most powerful and toxic poisons, such as those used by dangerous
thieves, which derive from plants, or living beings, such as those from dangerous
snakes,13 whether eaten or taken as a draught, will be purged entirely by recalling
this praise, this mantra, and the deity herself. (25)

Reciting this two or three or seven times, however much you can, while visualizing
the goddess before you, will eliminate multitudes of both the causes and results of
suffering brought about by spirits, pestilence, and poisons. Through this praise
you have the power to aid others and therefore this applies even to other beings as
well. (26)

Those who wish for progeny will bear them; those who wish for riches will
acquire them; thus each and every wish—all the supreme or common
accomplishments—will hereby be fulfilled, and obstacles will be entirely
vanquished, for everything that had to be abandoned has been overcome by its
appropriate antidote. Thus, there will be no more obstacles left to hinder the one
who recites this praise. (27)

This completes the Praise to Bhagavatī Tārā as spoken by the completely perfect
Buddha, the great Vairocana.

This Praise was transmitted by Nāgārjuna14 to Nyen Lotsawa Darma Drak15 who
translated it into Tibetan. Later, the great Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen revised the
translation. This completes the commentary on the Praise to Tārā with Twenty-one

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Verses of Homage, entitled Brilliant Light.

| Lhasey Lotsawa Translations, 2020 (trans. by Stefan Mang and Peter Woods).

Bibliography

Tibetan edition and English translation based on

grags pa rgyal mtshan. 2007. “bstod pa’i rnam bshad gsal ba’i ’od zer.” In
gsung ’bum grags pa rgyal mtshan/ pod gsum pa/, 638–646. Pe cin: krung
go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang.

Secondary Sources

Lhasey Lotsawa (trans.) The Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of

Homage, and the Excellent Benefits of Reciting the Praise. Lotsawa House.
Mabbett, Ian. “The Problem of the Historical Nāgārjuna Revisited.” Journal
of the American Oriental Society 118, no. 3, 1998: pp. 332–346.
Obermiller, Eugéne (ed.). History of Buddhism (chos ’byung) by Bu-ston,
vol 1 & 2. Heidelberg: In Kommission bei O. Harrassowitz, 1931 & 1932.
Roerich, George N. (ed.). The Blue Annals. Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society
of Bengal, 1949.
Willson, Martin. In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress. Somerville:
Wisdom Publications, 1996.

1. Drakpa Gyaltsen connects blue here with gold, the colour of Tārā’s appearance.
Other commentaries explain that blue describes the colour of the lotus flower
in Tārā’s hand. ↩

2. Drakpa Gyaltsen’s commentary reads tuttāre instead of tuttāra. ↩

3. The word yantra (’khrul ’khor) designates an instrument or other type of

mechanical device (esp. one used in warfare), or a magic diagram. ↩

4. Drakpa Gyaltsen reads ture as a mantra sylable uttered by Tārā. Other

commentaries read ture as an epithet of Tārā. ↩

5. Dangerous demons here could be understood as a reference to the eight great

dangers (‘jigs pa chen po brgyad). ↩

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 6. Drakpa Gyaltsen here describes Tārā as being victorious over the four māras or
demons. These are the demons of 1) the aggregates, 2) the afflictions, 3) the
Lord of Death, and 4) the sons of the gods. ↩

7. Tārā is not described here as holding an actual wheel; rather, this sentence
implies that her hands and feet are marked by wheels, as in the first of the
thirty-two major marks. ↩

8. These are: 1) Indra in the east; 2) Yama in the south; 3) Varuṇa in the west; 4)
Kubera in the north; 5) Agni in the south-east; 6) Nairṛta in the south-west; 7)
Vāyu in the north-west; 8) Īśāna in the north-east; 9) Brahmā at the zenith
(above); and 10) Viṣṇu at the nadir (below). ↩

9. Drakpa Gyaltsen’s commentary reads “fill” (‘gengs), unlike most versions of the
Praise which read “smash” (‘gems). ↩

10. Drakpa Gyaltsen here does not comment upon the word tranquil (zhi ma). ↩

11. Drakpa Gyaltsen reads ’bigs byed here as the verb to pierce. Accordingly, it is
the light radiating from Tārā’s seed syllable hūṃ that pierces the supreme
mountain Mandara. The Sanskrit versions of the Praise as well as other Tibetan
commentators (see for example, Willson 1996: 153) suggest that the line of the
Praise in question (ri rab mandara dang ‘bigs byed) provides a list of three
mountains, namely Meru (ri rab, literally “supreme mountain”), Mandara
(mandara) and Vindya (‘bigs byed). Both the Sanskrit version and other Tibetan
commentators read ri rab as the proper name for Meru, rather than an epithet
for Mandara as in this commentary; they read ‘bigs byed as the proper name
for Vindya mountain, rather than a verb as described. ↩

12. Drakpa Gyaltsen reads “with complete faith” (rab dad brjod) instead of “in
earnest” (rab dang brjod). ↩

13. Thieves and snakes are part of the eight great dangers. Drakpa Gyaltsen
appears to read poisons here as referring to both actual poisons and mental
afflictions. ↩

14. The Nāgārjuna who authored Tārā-related literature appears to use this as a
pen-name; his precise identity remains unclear. Presumably, the author of this
practice tradition of Tārā lived in the ninth century or later. For a discussion of
the problematic authorship of Nāgārjuna, see: Mabbett 1998: 332–346. ↩

15. The translator of Nyen, Darma Drak (gnyan lo tsā ba dar ma grags, late 11th
century), is said to have taken part in the council of 1076. He accompanied Ra
Lotsawa (rwa lo tsā ba, 1016–1128?) to India where he stayed for twelve years.
Darma Drak is credited with Prajñākaramati’s commentary on the

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 Bodhicaryāvatāra, texts on Kālacakra and Tārā, and other works (Roerich 1949:
71 & 293; Obermiller 1931: 219). ↩

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