The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP
I pray you that through his strength we may be able to purify
all the sins and obscurations of ourselves, Master and disciples,
and of our patrons and retinue, led by our gracious fathers and
mothers of this life: to have our minds think thoughts proper to
the Law of the holy ones; to prevent the awakening in our streams
even for an instant of any thoughts that are not the Law of the
holy ones; to be of benefit to beings with our body, speech, and
mind; to awaken in our streams undecaying friendliness and compassion
and the thought of enlightenment whose heart is compassion
and Emptiness; to attain the wisdom that is without
stain and the mantras that are unforgotten; and to hold in our
minds the entire Law gathered together in scripture and commentary.
I pray you, in brief, that you let there never arise external or
internal obstacles, or conditions averse to the accomplishment of
the most excellent enlightenment, whether by us, Master and
disciples, or by our relations or retinue. Let us perfect our two
stocks, cleanse our two obscurations, and quickly, quickly, become
manifest and perfect Buddhas.
Here, if it has been so requested, one of the monks gets up, prostrates
three times, and recites in a high-pitched rapid monotone
any special requests to the deity, "individual requests to gain virtue
for the dead, or life for the living." In our case, we had asked the
monks simply to thank the goddess for her past kindness to us and
to request her future favor upon us and the community; this request
was transmuted in the ritual into a rapid two-minute speech by the
monastery's schoolteacher (whose special job in the ritual was to
make just such prayers), asking for the happiness of all beings, the
long life of K'amtru rinpich'e, the spread of the Law, and the
defeat of the hindering demons. The monks consider it very important
that any sponsor of a ritual get his money's worth.
2.22 Offerings and prayers to the Holy Lady in particular
2.221 A recollection that the field of hosts is inherent in Tara
This prayer ends the first and most general part of the ritual,
the remainder of which is devoted solely to the goddess Tara. But
the monks must first "recollect that the entire field is inherent in
the Holy Lady" to whom they will make their offerings and prayers;
thus they join their palms in reverence to the gurus, the high patron
deities, and the Buddhas, their sons, servants, and disciples whom
they had invited previously and who sit "pervading all of space"
before the assembly; then they recite (or sing) the following verses:
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