The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP 73
From my throat to my breast a blue HUM (essence of the
aggregate of perception) transforms into blue Aksobhya, adorned
on his crown with Aksobhya, his three faces black, white, and
red, holding in his three right hands a vajra, a wheel, and a lotus,
and in his three left hands a bell, a gem, and a sword.
From my heart to my navel a yellow SVA (essence of the aggregate
of feeling) transforms into yellow Ratnasambhava, adorned
on his crown with Aksobhya, his three faces yellow, black, and
white, holding in his three hands a gem, a vajra, and a wheel, and
in his three left hands a bell, a yellow lotus, and a sword.
From my navel to my thighs a green HA (essence of the aggregate
of motivation) transforms into green Amoghasiddhi, adorned
on his crown with Aksobhya, his three faces green, black, and
white, holding in his three right hands a sword, a crossed vajra,
and a wheel, and in his three left hands a bell, a green lotus, and
a gem.
The visualization continues with the remaining deities: on his navel
LAM transforms into the goddess Locana, essence of earth; on his
heart MAM transforms into Mamaki, essence of water; on his throat
PAM transforms into Pandara, essence of fire; and on the top of his
head TAM transforms into Tara, essence of wind. On his eyes, ears,
nose, tongue, and penis the practitioner visualizes in the same way
the five great Bodhisattvas, each arising from his "seed" and thus
empowering the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch;
and these embrace their five consorts, the Diamond Ladies of forms,
sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles. The eight fierce guardians of
the mandala are placed on his hands, arms, knees, mouth, and
penis; his joints are Samantabhadra, his sinews are Maitreya, and his
mind is Manjusri.
In a ritual evocation of Cakrasamvara, written by Pema karpo, 102
the practitioner, after generating himself as the deity and visualizing
the entire retinue of the mandala about him, pictures an eightpetaled
lotus in his heart on which is a "knowledge being" in the
same divine form as himself, just four fingers tall; on the four petals
in the four cardinal directions he visualizes the four "inner yoginis"
of the mandala, and in the intermediate directions the four offerings.
With the ring finger of his left hand the practitioner touches himself
on the twenty-four places of his body, reciting the following syllables
and visualizing them in their respective places as fast as he recites
them: PUM JAM OM AM GOM RAM DEM MA KAM OM TRIM
KOM KAM LAM KAM HIM PREM GREM SAUM SUM NAM SIM
MAM KUM. These "seeds" then dissolve into light and "in this