The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP
But this mantra ("OM i I am the very self whose [intrinsically pure]
essence is the diamond of the knowledge of Emptiness!") is an
expression of power with connotations beyond its literal translation,
and these too form a backdrop of psychological affect in its recitation.
Thus, for example, Tsongk'apa goes on to interpret the
mantra in terms of several basic Buddhist metaphysical formulations:
In the syllable OM there are three letters, A, U and M: and
these are one's own body, speech and mind: the word "self"
refers to that wherein the Emptiness and the Compassion of
those three are inherently a single taste.
Furthermore, as it says in the Evocation called "All-Beneficenl":
n
Because free from any inherent nature it is empty,
and because free from any cause it is without a label,
because free from any imposed mental constructs,
its substance is certainly free of all wishes.
After it has explained these three "Gates of Deliverance," the
text gives the above mantra and explains its meaning in terms of
the quoted verse: contemplating the meaning of mantras such as
SUNYATA is thus a way of contemplating the meaning of the
three Gates of Deliverance. Vaidyapada 72
says that though these
are distinguished verbally as "empty," "unlabelable," and "wishless,"
from the absolute point of view the last two are naturally
included in "empty" alone. The master Nagarjuna says in his
Discourse on the Thought of Enlightenment:' 13
Since essenceless, it is empty. Since it is empty,
how can it have any "label"?
Since it is reluctant to accept any "label"
why should a wise man make a wish ?
It is in conformity with this that—although they are expressed
as three things—the last two are included in the Deliverance of
"empty" proper.
Furthermore, Vaidyapada and Sriphalavajra 47
explain the
meaning expressed in the phrase "the essencelessness of events"
in terms of freedom from constructs such as "one" or "many."
Thus, while reciting the mantra, one bears in mind the correct
view as to the meaning of "the essencelessness of events." To
wit: first the "object" is SUNYATA and the "subject" is JNA-
NA; but then [on the third word of the mantra] one turns away
from such distinctions of "subject" and "object" as are made
under the sway of ignorance, and their indissolubility—like
water poured into water—is VAJRA. And though it is necessary
here to awaken anew [with the mantra] one's understanding that