The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP
After the third mandala the basic mantra is recited 700 times and with
its appendix 350 times: (100 x 7) + (50 x 7) = 1,050. And thus
the grand total of recitations is 300 + 450 + 1,050 = 1,800. In
general, however, our author concludes, the more times the mantra
is recited the greater is its benefit, and since there is no real certainty
about the number, it should be read as much as possible.
At this point in the ritual the assembly hall is filled with the
rising and falling drone of the monks reciting the mantra, each monk
going at his own pace, until the head monk decides that the requisite
number of recitations has been reached; though many monks kepp
count of their recitations on their rosaries, it is still the head monk
who decides how long the recitation shall go on. Then, having thus
aroused Tara's heart with her mantra, visualizing all the while the
radiation of healing light from her heart, the monks proceed to
"arouse her heart with praise, that they may please the deity and
gain her special benefits."
2.2222.2 Arousing her heart with praises
The Homages to the Twenty-one Taras is the single most important
praise of the goddess in the entire literature, and its Tibetan translation
is rendered into a meter unusual in its extreme 8-syllable
regularity (x x x x x x x x). Its recitation is thus ideally suited to
a low and murmurous chanting, a rising and falling hum that lasts
as long as one's breath; in every ritual where the goddess is praised
at all, almost without exception this is the praise that is used. Thus
the monks now visualize that these "praises to the noble Tara, this
King of Tantras," are recited not only by the monks themselves but
also by all sentient beings, and that the sound thereof arises even
from the very elements. The recitation begins with this introductory
verse, called her "praise with the basic mantra":
OM ! Homage to the holy and noble Tara!
Homage, TARE, quick one, heroine,
removing terror with TUTTARE,
savioress, granting all aims with TURE,
the syllables SVAHA: to you I bow !
And then the assembly moves directly into the recitation of the
twenty-one verses:
Homage, Tara, quick one, heroine,
whose eyes flash like lightning,
born from the opening corolla
of the lotus face of the Lord of the triple world.