The Cult of Tara

204
MAGIC AND RITUAL. IN TIBET
I make offerings, I give to the holy blessed mother Tara and
all her hosts of Noble Ones, fathers, mothers, sons, neighbors, and
disciples; I fill the depths of space with all that is described in
All-Beneficent's Vow of Conduct: oblations, water for the feet,
flowers, incense, lamps, perfumes, food, music, cymbals, umbrellas,
and banners in great measure, alj the things set out here in
actuality, and all those holy substances of gods and men which
have no owner in the worldly realm: the sublime materials of bliss,
the clouds of offerings generated by the force of their mantras
and the strength of their visualization.
I confess all the sinful and unvirtuous deeds of myself and of
all beings, in all the lifetimes we have spun through this world,
all our sins and omissions: in brief, all we have done that we
should not have done, all we have not done that we should have
done.
I rejoice at all the merit of the infinite virtue of the Noble Ones
and ordinary people of the three times.
I entreat all the Conquerors of the ten directions to turn the
supreme wheel of the Law.
I pray all the Lamps of the World who might wish to demonstrate
the technique of passing away into nirvana: do not pass
away into nirvana, but serve the aims of the world and long
remain.
Whatever smalt virtue I may have accumulated
from my homage, offerings, confession,
rejoicing, entreaty, and prayer:
I dedicate it all for the sake of enlightenment.
Let me be just like those wise men
whose body, speech, and mind are pure,
whose conduct is pure, whose realm is pure,
exemplary in dedicating their merit.
Instead of this prayer, or in addition to it, there may be recited the
sevenfold office found at the end of many editions of the Homages
to the Twenty-one Taras, here attributed by our author to a "Nun
LaksmI," the writer of several canonical praises of Avalokitesvara,
but not, as far as I can find, given credit for these verses in the
Tenjur. Again, this office may be either recited or sung by the
monks:
I pay homage with complete sincerity
to the holy noble Tara
and to all the Conquerors and their sons
who dwell in the ten directions and the three times.
I give flowers, incense, lamps, perfumes,
food, and music,