The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP 193
VARANAM IDAM RATNA-MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI!
"OM To the noble Tara, the gurus, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
mothers and fathers, servants and retinue, I offer up this
precious mandala!"
And here each monk takes some rice from the pile that the altar
server has placed in front of him, and on the last word of the mantra
the entire assembly flings the rice into the air. The monks resume
the mandala gesture and recite:
From now until I gain the terrace of enlightenment
I offer to you with devotion
for the sake of all beings
the enjoyments of my body and speech,
the substance of my virtue in the three times.
0 holy place of offerings
whose eyes look upon everything:
think of me with love,
accept this offering of mine, I pray,
and having accepted, I pray you empower me 1
2.2114.3 Flowers
Then each monk, again, takes some flowers from the pile in front
of him and holds them up in the air as he recites the following mantra
seven times:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATE PUSPA-KETU-RAjAYA TATHA­
GATA YA ARHATE SAMYAKSAMBUDDHAYA TADYATHA
PUSPE PUSPE MAHAPUSPE PUSPODBHAVE PUSPA-SAM-
BHAVE PUSPAVAKIRNE SVAHA!
"OM Homage to the Blessed One, King of the Flowery Banner,
Tathagata, Worthy One, fully enlightened! That is: flowers,
flowers, great flowers! Growing of flowers, birth of flowers,
strewing of flowers SVAHA 1"
These flowers are then offered up to the image of the Buddha, with
all the monks throwing their flowers in the direction of the altar; by
the power of the above mantra, "as many flowers as there may be,
their offering counts for ten million times as many." When the
monks offer these flowers thus empowered by the injunction to
increase, they recite Santaraksita's "benediction of the thought of
2 5 0
enlightenment" i
By the empowerment of the Three Jewels,
by the compassion of all the Noble Ones,
by the strength of the Dharma realm,