The Short Commentary on the Tantra of Twenty-one Homages to Tārā called “The Treasure Vase of

Benefit and Happiness”

by Thupten Shedrub Gyatso.

The Tārā Who Averts War

13

Introduction

Benefits

namaḥ kalpânta-huta-bhug-jvāla-mālântara-sthite |

ālīḍha-mudita-ābaddha-ripu-cakra-vinaśiti ||

namaḥ (n/V) – adoration, homage; kalpa – eon anta end; huta – offered in fire; bhug – [an exclamation of surprise]; jvāla – burning, flame; mālā – a wreath, garland, crown, a string of beads, necklace, rosary; āntara – interior, internal, inward, native, indigenous; sthite – standing, staying, situated; ālīḍha – licked, touched, smoothed, polished, a particular attitude in shooting (the right knee advanced, the left leg drawn back); mudita – delighted, joyful, glad, rejoicing; ābaddha – tied on, bound [tib. kun nas bskor completely circumbulating; perhaps = rakṣā-cakra protective circle;]; ripu – an enemy, adversary, foe; cakra – circle, a discus or sharp circular missile weapon, a troop of soldiers, army; vinaśiti – perishing , disappearance, vanishing, destruction, annihilation.

Homage to you, who dwells amidst garlands

Blazing like the fire at the end of an eon.

With your right leg outstretched and left leg drawn in

Your joyful turning destroys enemy forces.

The thirteenth homage is to Drapung Jomma,^Tib the “Tārā Who Averts War”. She averts wars and obstacles, and leads beings to victory in the war with form and formless enemies. She is red in color and dwells amidst garlands of wisdom fire swirling like the fire at the end of an eon. Her right leg is stretched out and left leg is drawn in. Sparks of fire fly from the prongs of the vajra she brandishes, subduing all harmful enemies. She comforts them by gathering them under the vajra-tent that protects them from their own evil. With every skillful means¹, she turns the wheel of dharma, according to the disposition of the beings to be tamed. She makes them content and joyous, and subdues the malefic forces of the two obscurations. The inner meaning is that this indicates the realization that “exhausts all phenomena”. Just as the fire at the end of the eon consumes the world, when the primordial wisdom swirls in dharmadhātu, the outer earth and stones, the inner animate body, and the secret conceptions are also exhausted. So the foes of the two obscurations² are subjugated, and the joy of the great tranquility of the core of inner clarity of primordial wisdom³ that does not dwell in the extremes of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa is experienced.