The Cult of Tara

MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
In this manner, the author says, the basic mantra can be filled in
with the name of any sort of thing one may wish to pacify.
Again, to cleanse one's own or another's sins and obscurations, one
adds in the same way the appendix SARVA-PAPAM-AVARANA-
VlSUDDHE ! "Cleansing all sins and obscurations 1" This should be
recited with the addition of the name of the person for whose sake
it is being done. To gain wealth, one adds to the basic mantra
DHANAM ME DEHI! "Give me wealth !" If one wants any special
kind of wealth, the name of it should be substituted for DHANAM.
But best of all, for the increase of life, merit, and knowledge, one
adds the most famous of all these appendixes: MAMA AYUH-
PUNYA-JftANA-PUSTIM-KURU ! "Increase my life, merit, and
knowledge I" If this is being recited for the sake of someone other
thon oneself, his name should be substituted for MAMA.
All these present mantras, concludes our author, are the most
important ones; after a beginner knows these, their number can be
increased.
The text next proceeds to discuss how many times the mantra
should be recited. The most excellent holy ones say that at the
first and second offerings of the mandala to the Holy Lady (that is,
at the second and third mandates of the ritual) the basic mantra is
recited 300 times and with the appropriate appendix 100 times; at the
third offering they are recited respectively 800 and 400 times each,
thus making a grand total of 2,000 recitations. In some of the other
texts, however, the number of times one should recite the mantra is
not clear. But we do read in the Homages to the Twenty-one Taras
that the basic mantra has a definite sequence of two, three, and
seven ("If he recites them clearly two, three, seven times . . .");
hence we follow the count given therein by taking as a base number
100 recitations of the basic mantra and 50 recitations of the mantra
with the appendix, so that the grand total in the three offering rituals
is 1,800 recitations.
Here our author's mathematics may seem obscure at first, but
what he means is that for the recitation after the first mandala to
Tara the base numbers of her mantras are multiplied by two, after
the second mandala by three, and after the third mandala by seven.
Thus, after the first mandala to Tara the basic mantra is recited
200 times and with its appendix 100 times: (100 X 2) + (50 x 2) =
300. After the second mandala the basic mantra is recited 300 times
and with its appendix 150 times: (100 X 3) + (50 X 3) = 450.