The Cult of Tara

THE PARADOX OF POWER
MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
The celebration of this ritual is perhaps the most evocative expression
of the Tibetans' devotion to the goddess Tara. Yet in
their devotion lies one of the basic paradoxes of the Tibetan religion:
in spite of her close touch with the lives of her people, Tara shares in
the essential nature of the deities of the monastic cult. She, too, is
basically alien to the human experience, ultimately "other," without
personality, appearing and dispensing her miraculous favors as unapproachable
and impersonal light. She, too, is a cosmic fore
which may be manipulated by an expert in her ritual or may be
directed to one's benefit by the recitation of her mantra, the sonic
reverberation of her power.
In this ritual Tara's devotees express their love for and their
personal relations with the goddess in the offerings, praises, and
prayers with which they seek to "arouse her heart." They have
complete confidence in the effectiveness of the ritual, fostered by
their reliance upon the basic paradox of Tara's divine nature: for
she is kind and loving, ready to help them in any affliction; and the
monks who perform her ritual have imbibed her power, have com*
pleted all the recitations of her ritual service, and are empowered not
only to arouse her heart but also to employ her, to direct her divine
energy by the impersonal recitation of her mantra.
To understand the nature of this basic duality of the Tibetan
religious and devotional attitude we must first seek to understand
the sort of deity who is approached and the nature of the powers
that are dealt with. It is in the myths of Tara's spiritual origins,
which express the manifold and recurring manifestations of her
divine essence in the remote ages of the past, that we find a valuable
clue to her ritual.
THE SOURCE OF POWER
A beginningless time ago, we are told, there was a worldly realm
named Various Lights, in which there appeared a Tathagata named
Sound of Drums, and to him the princess Moon of Wisdom showed
great faith and devotion. For a thousand billion years she did re*
verence to the Buddha and the measureless host of his retinue, tW
Bodhisattvas and Worthy Ones, and finally she awakened thi
supreme thought of enlightenment. "The proper thing to do," ^