The Cult of Tara

specialized services arose, and any sect might include individuals
who were her special devotees.
Similarly, the Kajii sect—the "Lineage of the Proclamation"—
were especially reverent toward White Tara, tracing her relation
with them back to their founder Gampopa (1079-1153) 58
in direct
descent from.Atlsa, and chronicling the personal revelations she
granted preeminently to the incarnation lineage of the Karmapa.
And yet a member of any sect would call upon her when he felt
that the time of this death was drawing near, and the lamas of all
sects regularly bestowed upon their followers her "initiation into
life."
THE MONASTERY
All these sectarian lineages are more traditional preferences than
exclusive preserves, for Tara in all her forms transcended any
monopoly, and a devotee would seek her teachings from any who
possessed them. With the establishment of sectarian traditions,
however, it becomes more and more difficult to trace the complex
ramifications of the transmission; here and there in the lineages a
few well-known names stand out, but the very popularity of her
cult created crisscrossing branches among the sects which are almost
impossible to follow. (To the Tibetans, too, many of these lineages
are just lists of names, accessible only to specialists.) It is one
thing to trace the almost paradigmatic growth of Tara'.s worship
in Tibet; but in order to understand how her cult fits into the ritual
pattern of Tibetan life, it is important to review the entire ritual
cycle of a particular sect in a specific monastery and to consider
the lineages of her rituals as they are there presented, as guarantees
of efficacy, to those who worship her. It is only against the background
of the constantly recurring themes of ritual life that we may
gain the perspective that shows the cult of Tara, in all its individuality,
as yet an integral part of the Tibetan religious world; and it is
in terms of the totally ritual life of the monastery that this religious
pattern is ultimately expressed.
Most of my informants in India belonged to the subsect of the
Kajii called Drug or "Dragon"; when Tsangpa jare (1161-1211) 59
founded the head monastrery in Tsebola, "nine dragons appeared
in the sky and spoke several times with the sound of thunder." 60
So popular did the sect become that people said: "Half the people
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