The Cult of Tara

178
MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
accomplishes is for the sake of gaining omniscient knowledge, that
all the virtue empowered thereby is for the sake of gaining infinite
bliss even in this world." 242
All the monks join their palms together (fig. 22) and recite three
times:
Fig. 22. Palms joined
in reverence.
Myself and all beings, as infinite as space, from this time onward
until we gain the terrace of enlightenment, go for refuge to our
glorious and holy gurus; we go for refuge to the divine hosts of
the high patron deities' mandalas; we go for refuge to the perfect
blessed Buddhas; we go for refuge to the holy Law; we go for
refuge to the Assemblies of the Noble Ones.
Then they "awaken the thought of enlightenment"—no hand gesture
—by reciting three times:
For the sake of all beings may I gain the rank of omniscient
Buddha; it is for that reason that I enter into the ritual service
and evocation of the holy noble Tara.
Note how this thought of enlightenment is here placed in a dramatic
context, a ritualization of a fundamentally soteriological impulse;
and this moral preparation of the assembly—the accumulation of
their stock of merit—is expressed again in abbreviated form as the
monks once more join their palms and recite three times:
To the Buddha, the Law, and the highest hosts
until enlightenment I go for refuge.
By this my performance of ritual service and evocation
may I attain Buddhahood for the sake of beings.