The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP 149
The standard pattern of presentation for all these offerings is the
recitation (or the chanting, using any one of a number of standard
melodies that fit the meter) of a dedicatory verse and then of the
Sanskrit mantra, accompanied by the appropriate gesture. Often
each gesture is preceded during the course of the verse by a series of
prefatory hand motions, which are impossible for me to draw; if the
offerings are being made in abbreviated form, with the recitation of
the mantra alone, the practitioner makes his gestures flow into each
other, perhaps also snapping his fingers after each gesture, like the
supple and flowing movements of a manual dance. All these movements
vary from sect to sect, even from monastery to monastery,
but everywhere, when properly performed, they add a further
aesthetic dimension to the sounds of the assembly hall, and provide
the individual practitioner with a controlled set of bodily motions
to accompany the ballet of his visualization.
For example, the verses and mantras for the offering of the two
waters and the five gifts might be recited or sung as follows, each
with the appropriate gesture: 208
1) Lord, it is good that you have come here,
giving us the opportunity for merit;
and when you have accepted our oblation
we pray you remain here.
OM GURU-SARVA-TATHAGATA PRAVARA-SATKARA-MA-
HASATKARA-MAHA-ARGHAM PRATlCCHA HUM SVAHA!
"OM Guru and all Tathagatas: accept this excellent, respectful,
most respectful, and great oblation HUM SVAHA !"
2) Just as the Buddha, as soon as he was born,
was bathed by all the gods,
we pray you likewise bathe your body
with this pure divine water.
OM GJURU-SARVA-TATHAGATA MAHA-PADYAM PRATlC­
CHA HUM SVAHA I
"OM Guru and all Tathagatas: accept this great water for your
feet HUM SVAHA!"
This second verse, by the way, is a standard one, used also in "bathing
the deity" and in bestowing initiation upon a disciple. And here,
too, as in many other rituals, there comes a brief pause between the
waters and the gifts to offer the deity a seat: