The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP 217
In this third ritual for Tara her basic mantra is recited 700 times and
with its appendix 350 times; the Homages are read seven times and
the benefit verses once.
3 Concluding acts
3.1 The filling in of the offerings
3.11 Giving the tormas
After all four mandalas have been offered, the ritual moves into
its concluding acts, which begin with filling in the offerings; the
first of these, again, is the presentation of the tormas to the four
classes of guests. The most standard list of these consists of (1) the
main deity, who represents as well all the gurus, high patron deities,
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and so on; (2) the protectors of the Law in
general; (3) the "lords of the soil," the local spirits who rule over a
particular spot—the lands of a village, a mountain pass, or the ford
of a river—and whose influence for good or ill can have a profound
effect upon the success of the Law in any locality; and (4) the sentient
beings in all the six destinies. This list can, of course, vary: sometimes,
for example, the latter two classes may be grouped together
and offered a single "worldling torma"; very often special "prayer
tormas" are offered to the protectors; another torma may be offered
to the hindering demons as a bribe not to distrub the ritual, and so
on (we shall see examples in the coming chapters). Each of these
tormas has its own distinctive shape and decoration; a prospective
head monk must know how to make perhaps fifty different types.
Thus the presentation of these tormas is by no means a minor part
of the ritual, as evidenced by the care given to their decoration and
the artistry lavished upon their production. Their offering constitutes
as much a ritual function as does the effectuation of the
mantra in Tara's heart and requires as much personal and contemplative
preparation.
We have seen that on the altar are three types of torma: here the
offering tormas and the food tormas do not play an active part in
the ritual, representing simply the general offerings that are made
throughout, "effigies" as it were for the contemplative creation of
the "divine substances" of the ritual. It is, rather, the gift tormas
that are here presented to the guests and, in the case of the last three,
actually thrown out the door of the assembly hall to their waiting
recipients (the gift torma for Tara remains on the altar, for she is
present there before the assembly).