The Cult of Tara

38
MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
perform the ritual service of the ' contemplation of the mantra. '" n
Thus, even before the ritual service, the young monk must have
received the proper initiatory authorization for each deity; it is
during this period that he begins what will be a lifelong accumulation
of these initiations, from his own masters, from those whom he
visits on pilgrimage, and from traveling lamas who pass through his
monastery. Incarnate lamas receive literally thousands of initiations,
keeping a record in a special book of the date, the initiation,
and the lineage of the master who bestowed it; and if a lama achieves
fame in this life, his record of the traditional lineages he has acquired
may be published as his "book of acquisitions" or "book of what was
heard." The Longdo lama Ngagwang lozang says: "Obtaining the
four, initiations, dwelling in one's vows and pledges, and going
through the prior ritual service—these are special doctrines of the
Tantra: all of them are surely necessary." 79
THE MONASTIC CULT AND CALENDAR
The objects of this continual attention, in the monk's private
contemplations and in the assembly hall with his fellows, are generally
subsumed by the Tibetans under the heading of the "Three
Basic Ones," a classification that in daily life and in ritual importance
supersedes even that of the "Three Jewels": these are (1) the lamas
or the gurus of the lineage, (2) the high patron deities, and (3) the
dakinls, and to this list are added the "protectors of the Law,"
often generically called, simply, the "Lords."
The Gurus
To the Dragon Kajii, the chief of all lamas is Padinasambhava,
the "Second Buddha," called most often the "Precious Guru." The
tenth day is sacred to him, and on the tenth of every month there is
a special "ancient" daylong ritual in his honor, the "evocation of his
heart"; every year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, there begins
the nine-day evocation and masked dance of the "eight earthly
manifestations of the Guru."
Every ritual in the monastery begins with one or more prayers
to the entire lineage of the gurus, which is either printed as part of
the ritual text or recited by memory from a separately printed page,
in which they are asked to empower the practitioners to the effective
performance of the ritual. In K'amgargon the prayer most often