The Cult of Tara

40 MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
. . . upon us, attached to food and clothing.
. . . upon us, who are forgetful and confused.
. . . upon us, bound with the straps of "subject" and "object."
. . . upon us, blundering in the pit of hypocrisy.
. . . upon us, who audaciously speak what we have not heard.
. . . upon us, abandoned in space-vast heedlessness.
. . . upon us, who flee impiously from contemplation.
. . . upon us, who cannot even agree together.
Then follows one 8-syllable line (x x x x x x x x):
We have nowhere else than you to be a lord of refuge . . .
And then two 6-syllable lines (x x x x x x ):
look with the eyes of compassion !
May our glorious holy gurus . . .
And then, finally, the meter becomes 9-sy liable (xxxxxxxx x—):
empower us, that we may free our minds of clinging to a "self,"
empower us, that in our streams we may awaken trust,
empower us, that we may cut off covetousness from within,
empower us, that now we may root out our firm attachments,
empower us, that we may be versed in the lives of our gurus,
empower us, that we may succeed as they spoke in their counsels,
empower us, that we may stroll the rugged mountains
empower us, that we may be able to evoke one-pointedly,
empower us, that we may bear aloft the banner of evocation,
empower us, that we may make the evocation our lives,
empower us, that we may evoke without hindrance,
empower us, that we may understand our True Nature,
empower us, that we may set up an encampment in nondelusion,
empower us, that we may act as friends to the unfortunate,
empower us, that we may achieve our own and others' aims,
empower us, that we may gain the highest magical attainment ! 80
In addition, the Dragon Kajii periodically perform rituals of offering
to the gurus on the anniversary of the death of one of their
lineage, a previous K'antrii rinpoch'e, for example, or one of his
teachers. This sect is noted for the music its members play for these
rituals on the oboe-like jaling and the large pot-shaped clay drum,
a wailing and impressive dirge that echoes over the mountain in
memory of a master.
The High Patron Deities
The Dragon Kajii classify the high patron deities into two major
types, general and particular. The former class consists of the high