Praise the Goddess, Liberatrix

Lord Atisha's Condensed Praise

Homage! TĀRE brave savioress
TUTTĀRA all fears’ dispeller
TURE ev’ry truth’s bestower
SVĀHĀ: we bow to Her letters!

This stanza is attributed to the time when the Esteemed Lord Atīśa was staying in Nyethang. His holy Body having fallen ill, he supplicated Reverend Mother Liberatrix. She prophesied an intervention if ten thousand Praises of Liberatrix were to come to maturation in a single day. The Esteemed Lord replied that he did not have the means to bring it all together in a day, and beseeched to do her bidding. In response, the Praise of Liberatrix was extremely condensed to this, and since the Reverend Mother, Liberatrix, herself actually Spake it, it’s blessings are extremely great.

21 Praising Homages to Goddess Liberatrix & Their Benefits

Namastāraikaviṃśati­stotra­guṇa­hitasahita‍

སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག་གིས་བསྟོད་པ་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་བཅས་པ།‍

21 Homages, Praise to Tārā and their Benefits

OṂ! Homage Rev’rend Mother Noble Liberatrix!

Homage! Tārā, quick, heroic
Eyes like lightning, instantaneous
On the face of three-worlds’ guardian
She sprung lotuses from teardrops!

Homage! Fullest moon of autumn
Her face shines with hundreds of them
One-thousand star constellations
Each she tot’lly reveals, brilliant!

Homage! Golden, born of water
Her hand’s beautified by lotus
Gen’rous, dil’gent, austere, peaceful
Patient, meditative province!

Homage! Crown node of Thus Gone One
Her deeds, infinite victories
She’s attained ev’ry transcendence
Sons of victors’ best reliance!

Homage! Letters TUTTĀRA, HŪṂ
Fill desire realm, all ways, and space
Seven worlds her feet surmounting
No one can deny her summons!

Homage! Indra, Agni, Brahma
Marut, many mighties, worship
Spirits, zombies, too gandharvas
Hosts of demons laud before her!

Homage! Sound of TRAṬ and PhAṬ done
Overcome foes’ machinations
With right leg bent, left extended
She vanquishes, rages fire-blaze!

Homage! TURE, fearsome greatness
She who overcomes brave māras
When her lotus face scowls wrathful
She tot’lly slays all contenders!

Homage! Three Rare Supremes' gesture
Ring- and thumb-points deck heart-center
Universal wheel adorns her
Spirited with its light masses!

Homage! Her most joyful, splendid
Diadem extends ray garlands
Laughing, mocking with TUTTĀRA
She overwhelms worlds and māras!

Homage! Earth quadrants’ protectors
They’re all summoned by her willing
Wrath morphs to concern, with HŪṂ, she
Tot’lly saves from impov’rishments!

Homage! Crescent moon diadem
And all ornaments shine brightly
Amitabha ‘midst her topknot
Splendid, beams his light, eternal!

Homage! Like world’s end, conflagrant
She dwells within blazing garlands
When stretching right leg, drawing left
Her joy circles, scorches armies!

Homage! Hand on earth’s four sectors
Pounds with palm, her foot stamps them down
Fierce, concerned, with letter HŪṂ, she
Destroys seven nether levels!

Homage! Happy, virtuous, peaceful
Nirvāṇa’s her sphere of conduct
SVĀHĀ, OṂ, being most genuine
Conq’ring greatest sins her mission!

Homage! Joyful ones encompass
Scatt’ring foes’ bodies asunder
Speech of ten letters, blazoning
Wisdom HŪṂ, she’s Liberatrix!

Homage! Standing TURE, stomping
HŪṂ, her seed, her true appearance
Meru, Mandara, and Vindhya
She rocks mountains, three worlds over!

Homage! In her hand the famous
Heav’nly lake marked with the rabbit
TĀRA spoken twice with PhAṬ does
Clear all poisons, none excepted!

Homage! Groupings of godly kings
Gods and human hybrids tend her
Of all armors, joyful splendor
Hers deflects bad dreams and conflicts!

Homage! She with sun and full moon
Two eyes beaming radiant light
HARA twice-spoken, TUTTĀRA
Tot’lly dispels fierce contagion!

Homage! Three thus-nesses arrayed
Endow genuine peace, power
Spirits, zombies, demons, the like
She masters with supreme TURE!

This the praise of the root mantra
Plus homages, all twenty-one!

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To the goddess, with devotion
And with reason, best recited
Ev’ning, and at dawn arising
Minding she grants all fearlessness
All sins she tot’lly pacifies
And prevents from bad migrations!
Seventy million victors
Will quickly grant empowerment
Being the cause to attain greatness
And ultimate buddha ranking!
Regarding awf’ly fierce poison
Whether earthly or other beings’
No matter how its ingested
Minding her, she quite dispels it
Spirits, disease, poison troubling
Suff’ring masses bans completely
Same for other sentient beings!
If sung clearly two-three-seven
Wishing for a son obtains one
Wishing for great wealth obtains it
Thus for all wishes’ attainment
Void obstructions, vanquish one by one!

The perfectly complete buddha, Vairocana, spoke these twenty-one praising homages to the blessed lady, Goddess Liberatrix, along with their associated benefits. It is wholly complete.

Verses of Dedication

Victors’ mother, TĀRA, just like your
Body, life-span, ret’nue, buddha-field
With excellent marks the same as yours
May we all become the same as you!

By power of praise and pray’r to you
For myself and who- and where-so’er
Please pacify ills, poverties, strife
Expand dharma and auspiciousness!

Transcreator's Colophon

The Twenty-one Praising Homages of Liberatrix is perhaps the most popular known devotion to the goddess, Tārā, in the world. It is recited daily in multiple languages by Buddhist monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen alike. Two versions of it exist in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon: one as a dhāraṇī preserved in the original Sanskṛt; the other was translated into Tibetan and became a very popular recitation of Buddha Word—it became the basis of many more unique liturgies and ceremonies for centuries to come.

This version is a "transcreation": a work intended to preserve the living culture of the Goddess by its rendering in the same metrical verse as the original. The work is transcreated to preserve the roots, with verb/noun agreement, and a little neologism in naming. If one has been accustomed to chanting the traditional melodies in Tibetan, those same melodies may now be sung in this Tibetan-English transcreation. May this particular aspect of Buddha Word, Liberatrix's tradition become firmly established in the West!

The expanded edition includes: Lord Atīśa's Praise; Names and Mantras; and Verses of Dedication for an expanded opportunity of prayer, meditation, and contemplation. By emulating the past masters' attitude of awakening mind in the beginning, and practicing these sources of merit and wisdom in the middle, the state of the Goddess, Herself dedicated and sure to be accomplished in the end.

A Tibetan-English Transcreation by StevenRAJ

The Holy Day “Heaven Descendant” WATER TIGER 2022

SARVA MANGALAM

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