The Cult of Tara

MAGIC AND RITUAL IN TIBET
If one wishes to gain
great waves of knowledge,
the five supernormal perceptions,
or any of the magical attainments
of "holding the mantra"
such as youth or long life:
so long as one does not do the ritual service
one will gain nothing.
The Tibetans are quite serious about the necessity of the massive
recitation of the prior ritual service before one can carry out any of
the practical uses of the mantra. The Longdd lama Ngawang lozang
defines ""ritual service for the requisite length of time" as ritual
service for three to six months. "Ritual service for the requisite
number of times," he says, depends upon one's previously accumulated
merit: one with a great deal of merit need recite the mantra
here only 10,000 times; one with medium merit should recite
it 100,000 times; and one whose merit is small should recite it
10,000,000 times, Then, and only then, one receives the "requisite
signs of success in the ritual service": one sees the face of the deity
(either in a dream or in person), and one's body begins to glow from
its continual absorption of the knowledge being during the selfgeneration.
Similarly, Ngawang lozang lists the twelve signs that "one's mind
has been made firm in the ritual service," that "one has entered upon
the path," and that "one has achieved, with disciplined and blissful
mind, the state of one's patron deity." The twelve signs are: 20
1) One feels little hunger or thirst
2) One is free of illness
3) One's understanding grows excellent
4) One's body begins to glow
5) One's dreams become auspicious
6) One's dreams come true
7) One feels a zestful inclination toward reciting the mantra
8) One feels little fatigue
9) One feels a pleasant warmth
10) One's comprehension of scripture and commentary increases
11) One strives to preserve these qualities
12) One's devotion to the chosen deity grows great
It is difficult to comment upon some of these signs, but Tibetan
contemplatives confirm many of them: they report that during