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 Unfathomable Suppressor

17

Introduction

Benefits

namas ture-pādâghāte hūṃ-kārâkāra-bījite |

meru-mandāra-kailāsa-bhuvana-traya-cālini ||

namaḥ (n/V) – adoration, homage; ture (f/V) – quick, willing, prompt; pāda – [m] foot, leg, column, pillar, fourth part, quarter of anything; āghāte (f/V) – striking, killing, blow, slaughter-house, place of execution; hūṃ – [a holy sound]; kāra (m) – [term used to signify a letter, sound or indeclinable word]; ākāra – form, figure, shape, stature, appearance, gesture, expression of the face; bījite (f/V) – sown with seed, having for seed; meru – Meru [name of a fabulous mountain, said to form the central point of Jambu-dvīpa] mandāra – Mandāra [a heaven, one of the 5 trees of paradise or Svarga]; kailāsa – Kailāsa [name of a mountain placed in the Himālaya range and regarded as one of the loftiest peaks to the north of the Mānasa lake]; bhuvana – the world (generally 3 worlds are reckoned with), earth; traya – triple, threefold; cālini (f/V) – moving, trembling, shaking.

Homage to you whose seed syllable is HŪṂ

Who utters TURE and stamps your feet.

Causing Mount Meru, Mandhāra and Mount Kailāsa

And the three worlds to tremble.

The seventeenth homage is to Dolma Pagmed Nonma,^Tib the “Unfathomable Suppressor”, who averts harm from hunters, thieves, robbers and enemies. She is orange like saffron, sits on a blue lotus and holds a stupa¹. By saying TURE, stamping on the ground, and the radiating seed syllables from the HŪṂ at her heart, she shakes all the abodes of the great gods, including Mount Meru, Mandhāra and Vindhya. The effect of her actions extends beyond the three thousand worlds. Her stamping causes the three realms: desire, form and formless, on the subterranean, terrestrial and celestial worlds, to quake and quiver. By the power of her frightening forces, she crushes butchers, thieves, and other enemies under her feet and gives peace to all beings. The ultimate meaning is that the quavering of the three worlds is purification of the three doors, (body, speech and mind).