The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP 191
I fill the many jeweled pitchers to the brim
with sweet-scented water,
and with songs and music I bathe
the Tathagatas and their sons.
I cover their bodies with incomparable clothing,
I dress them in pure and scented garments,
I give to them dress of many colors,
holy garments, sweet-smelling,
divers garments, soft and fine,
and with hundreds of most excellent ornaments
I adorn them as Noble Ones,
as All-beneficent, Sweet Voice, Lord of the World.
With the most excellent perfumes,
sweet essence of three thousand worlds,
I anoint the bodies of the Lords of Sages,
that they may blaze with light like gold,
cleansed, refined, purified.
To the Lords of Sages,
most excellent place of offerings,
I offer up the pleasing flowers,
lotus flowers white and blue,
to weave a garland of all sweet smells.
I offer them also the gathering clouds of smoke,
the pervading sweetness of gladdening incense;
I offer them also the food of the gods,
all the various repasts of food and drink,
I offer them also jeweled lamps,
set out like a string of golden lotuses.
I sweep the ground, moisten it with perfume
and there strew petals of pleasing flowers.
To those whose essence is compassion I offer
a divine mansion filled with the sweet sounds of praise,
its blazing beauty adorned with pearls and precious jewels,
an ornament of infinite space.
Ever do I offer to the Lords of Sages
beautiful jeweled umbrellas, gold-handled,
delighting with their encircled ornaments,
well-formed and comely to the sight.
Let there be here the clouds
that refresh beings from their sufferings;
the hosts of other offerings,
the gladdening sound of music and song !
At this word—it being, in effect, an offering of music—the monks
peal forth the sound of their bells, drums, conch shells, trumpets,
cymbals, and damaru in the long roll of the peaceful music, and then
they continue: