Suryagupta’s 21 Taras
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Dear friends around the world,
Due to her enlightened compassion, Tara manifests in innumerable forms to benefit sentient beings. These manifestations reflect the many needs of sentient beings, including protection, long life, peace, the overcoming of obstacles and saving beings from danger.
Tara is one of the most beloved deities in Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly by Tibetans. Legend has it that many aeons ago, during the time of Buddha Dundubhisvara, there lived a princess named ‘Moon of Wisdom-knowledge’. She was a very devoted disciple of this Buddha and would set out many offerings to the Buddha and sangha every day. Eventually, she generated bodhicitta, the compassionate aspiration to attain enlightenment and become a Buddha herself, in order to help all living beings. Some monks came to know of this and urged her to dedicate the merits she had created to be reborn as a male. However, the princess rejected this advice, saying:
“Here there is no man, there is no woman, no self, no person, and no consciousness. Labelling ‘male’ or ‘female’ has no essence but deceives the evil-minded world.”
She went on to make the following vow:
“There are many who desire enlightenment in a man’s body, but none who work for the benefit of sentient beings in the body of a woman. Therefore, until samsara is empty, I shall work for the benefit of sentient beings in a woman’s body.”
From that time onwards the princess dedicated herself to winning full and complete enlightenment. Once she accomplished that goal, she came to be known as Tara, the Liberator.
I wanted to share with all of you some information about Tara and some of her manifestations. The Praise to the 21 Taras is an excellent example of Tara’s various manifestations that compassionately aid sentient beings to overcome their suffering and progress on their spiritual path towards enlightenment. I hope you enjoy reading more about her various manifestations.
You can print out these pictures, and recite the prayers and mantras below to create a strong connection with her and have your life transformed by her immense energies. You do not need tantric initiation to engage in these practices. I would like to thank the very talented Mr V.V. Sapar for painting such wonderful and realistic images of the manifestations of Tara. These paintings really capture the energies of Tara and it will be beneficial to pray to the Tara in these forms. You can print out either one or more of the 21 forms and pray to that form specifically or even recite the Praise to the 21 Taras, which encompassed them all and recite the Green Tara mantra instead.
May you always be cared for by the great mother Buddha Tara in her many glorious manifestations.
Tsem Rinpoche
The Twenty-One Taras
Tara has 21 primary emanations, each of which performs different activities such as pacification, increase, control and wrath. The different colours of these 21 Taras correspond to the four different types of enlightened activity, as explained by Venerable Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche:
Tara is the female Buddha of enlightened activity, of which there are 4 types: pacifying, increasing, overpowering and wrathful. Each of these is represented by a different colour:
- White represents the enlightened activity of pacifying, for example overcoming sickness, causes of untimely death and obstacles to success in one’s life or one’s practice.
- Yellow represents the enlightened activity of increasing the positive qualities conducive to a long life, peace, happiness and success in one’s Dharma practice.
- Red represents the enlightened activity of power, or overpowering external forces that cannot be tamed through the first two activities, for example, removing obstacles to sickness, untimely death, etc., and forcefully accumulating conducive conditions for one’s Dharma practice.
- Black represents the enlightened activity of wrath, which involves using forceful methods for accomplishing activities for enlightened purposes that cannot be accomplished through other means.
The most common form of Tara is Green Tara. It was in this dynamic manifestation that she made the vow to return as a female Bodhisattva again and again to aid sentient beings. She is resplendent in an aura of green light, radiant with the attainment of the six perfections of giving, ethics, patience, effort, meditative stabilisation and wisdom. She glows brightly with her ever-compassionate care for all sentient beings.
Tara is immensely beautiful, youthful like a 16-year-old maiden. She is naked from the waist up, though not in a lustful way. She is bare in that way because she remains unshackled by samsara and is free from all suffering.
At the same time, she wears slender and bright pants. These were traditionally worn by ancient Indian ladies, and represents that although she is enlightened, she works through worldly conventions to help us overcome our suffering.
Due to her strong karmic connection to all sentient beings in samsara, Tara tilts towards us out of her great compassion to listen to our prayers, grant us our virtuous wishes and protect us as a mother would for her child.
She is emerald green, splendid in the swiftness that the colour represents. Her ability to come to our assistance as we invoke her presence is instant – we need only think of her to have her compassionate heart with us.
Unusually, Green Tara does not sit in meditative pose; instead her right leg extends outwards, to show us that she is ready to step forward to help us in our time of need, and does so when we invoke her.
There are many lineages of the 21 Taras including the traditions coming from Suryagupta, Dipamkara Atisha, Longchen Rabjampa and Terchen Chokgyur Lingpa. Each of these lineages portray the manifestations of Tara in different ways, with different mantras, and methods of practice. An example of these differences includes the manner in which the practice is bestowed to practitioners. In the Dipamkara Atisha tradition, tantric initiation for all 21 Taras are bestowed during one ceremony, compared to the Suryagupta tradition, where initiations are given for each individual manifestation. The 21 Taras depicted here follow the Suryagupta tradition.
The Indian Adept and Mahasiddha Suryagupta
Suryagupta or Ravigupta (Tibetan: nyi ma be pa) is one of the 84 Mahasiddhas according to a list composed by the Indian scholar Vajrasana of Bodhgaya in the 11th century. Suryagupta was a layperson from Kashmir who was miraculously cured of leprosy by a statue of the goddess Tara. He was a learned man, who was well versed in tantric practice.
When he was afflicted by leprosy, he built himself a hut and prayed for three months to the west of the temple that housed the miraculous Tara statue. After three months, the gate of the temple moved by itself to face his hut. Tara spoke through the statue and asked him “what is your wish?” to which he replied “I wish to be cured of leprosy.” At that very moment, his entire body, apart from a very small sore on his forehead, was healed of leprosy. Puzzled why the sore on his forehead was not healed, he asked “what was the reason for not curing the sore on my forehead?” Tara then replied “In a previous life, you were a hunter, you killed animals and in the end set fire to an entire forest. As a consequence, you were reborn in hell. Your current life is the last rebirth after 500 rebirths in hell.” After saying this, she bestowed him with her sadhana and praise. She told him that when anyone prays to her and invokes her, she will help them to achieve their aims, grant their wishes, and grant them both common and supreme attainments.
After that Suryagupta composed a praise to the 21 Taras, as well as sadhanas and commentaries. He taught these to his student Chandragarbha, and over time this holy lineage was passed down through the ages until today through an unbroken line of sacred masters.
Suryagupta is famous for having many visions of Tara and began many lineages of her practice such as the Twenty-one Taras, Vajra Tara, Seventeen Deity Tara practice, and more. The Twenty-one Taras of Suryagupta is significantly different from the Twenty-one Taras of Dipamkara Atisha, in terms of iconography, as each Tara has a unique posture, colour and implements. The Dipamkara Atisha tradition, on the other hand, portrays each Tara in the same posture.
Green Tara
Mantra: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA
Explanation of the 21 Taras
Click on image to enlarge
1. Heroic Red Tara
༄༅། །རབ་ཏུ་དཔའ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
1. Rabtupa We Drolma/ Pravira Tara
Her rite is for turning back the powers of others; she is praised in terms of her history.
Praising Tara by her life story
Homage to Tara, The Swift One, The Heroine,
Whose eyes are like a flash of lightning,
Who arose from the opening of a lotus,
Born from the tears of the Protector of The Three Worlds.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA TRE DATU VASHAM KURU SOHA
Out of Emptiness, a dharmodaya; in its center, on a yellow lotus and moon seat is OM, which becomes Tara the Heroine, red and emitting a mass of fire, with one face and eight arms. The first pair of hands, joined at her crown, hold a vajra and a bell. The second pair hold an arrow and a bow, the third a wheel and a conch, and the fourth a sword and a noose. She has a peaceful form and sits in vajra-paryanka, adorned with silks and all the jewel ornaments and with a backrest of moonlight. She is crowned with Vairocana.
Click on image to enlarge
2. Moonlight White Tara
༄༅། །དཀར་མོ་ཟླ་མདངས་ཀྱི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Karmo Dadang Kyi Drolma/ Chandra Kanti Tara
Her rite is for calming infectious diseases; she is praised in terms of the brightness and luminous radiance of her countenance.
Praising Tara by the brightness and radiance of her face
Homage to you with a face like a hundred full moons in autumn,
Gathered together into one,
Blazing with brilliant light,
Like a thousand constellations.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA PAPAM SHIN TEM KURU SOHA
On a lotus and moon, from TA comes a white Tara with three faces, white, blue and yellow, and twelve arms. The first pair of hands are in contemplation; the other right hands hold a khatvanga, a wheel, a gem, a vajra, and a garland of flowers; the other left a water-pot, an utpala, a bell, a flask (sometimes a treasure vase) and a book.
Click on image to enlarge
3.Golden Colour Tara
༄༅། །གསེར་མདོག་ཅན་གྱི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Serdog Chen Gyi Drolma/ Kanaka Vana Tara
Her rite is for prolonging life; she is praised in terms of her colour, hand decorations and causes.
Praising Tara by her colour, what she holds and her causes
Homage to you who are bluish gold,
Your hand perfectly adorned with a lotus flower;
Who arose from practicing Giving, Moral discipline,
Patience, Effort, Concentration and Wisdom.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA AYU PUNYE PUSH TEM KURU SOHA
On a lotus and sun seat, from RE comes a yellow Tara with one face and ten arms. Her right hands hold a rosary, a sword, an arrow, a vajra and a staff, her left a silk ribbon, a noose, a lotus, a bell and a bow.
Click on image to enlarge
4. Golden Tara of Crown Victorious
༄༅། །གཚུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Tsugtor Nampar Gyalwe Drolma/ Usnisa Vijaya Tara
Her rite is for neutralizing lethal poisons; she is praised in terms of the esteem that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have for her.
Praising Tara by her being honoured by the Conquerors and the Bodhisattvas
Homage to you who surmount the Tathagathas’ Ushnishas,
Whose victorious actions are limitless
Who are greatly honoured by the Sons of Conquerors,
Who have attained every perfection.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA AYU GHANA PUSH TEM KURU SVAHA
On a yellow lotus and moon, from TUT comes a yellow Tara with one face and four arms, the right hands boon-granting and holding a rosary, the left holding a water-pot and a club. She is in sattva-paryanka.
Click on image to enlarge
5. Tara Proclaiming the Sound of HUM
༄༅། །ཧཱུྃ་སྒྲ་སྒྲོག་པའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Hum Dra Drogpi Drolma/ Hum Svara Nadini Tara
Her rite is for subjugating; she is praised in terms of her suppression of adversity.
Praising Tara by her subduing unfavourable conditions
Homage to you who with letters TUTTARA and HUM
Fill the realms of desire, direction and space.
With the seven worlds beneath your feet,
You are able to draw all beings to bliss.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE AKAR SHA YA HRI SOHA
On a moon, from TA comes a yellow Tara with one face and two arms, the right hand giving refuge and the left holding a yellow lotus.
Click on image to enlarge
6. Tara Victorious over the Three Levels of the World
༄༅། །འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་ལས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Jigten Sumlay Nampar Gyalwe Drolma/ Trilokya Vijaya Tara
Her rite is purifying obscuration and negativities; she is praised by the great worldly devas.
Praising Tara by her being worshipped by the great worldly gods
Homage to you who are worshipped by Indra, Agni, Brahma,
Vayu, and the other mighty gods;
And before whom the host of evil spirits,
Zombies, smell eaters and givers of harm respectfully offer praise.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA BE GHAN NA SHA TRUM UTSA TRA YA SOHA
On a red lotus and sun seat, from RE comes a red Tara with one face and four arms, the first right hand holding a vajra and the second a sword, the first left with threatening forefinger and the second holding a noose. She sits in sattva-paryanka.
Click on image to enlarge
7. Tara Who Crushes Adversaries
༄༅། །རྒོལ་བ་འཇོམས་པའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Golwa Jompi Drolma/ Vadi Pramardani Tara
Her rite is for upward transference of the consciousness to the Akanistha Pure Land at the time of death; she is praised in terms of destroying adversaries.
Praising Tara by her destroying opponents
Homage to you who by saying TRA (trey) and PHAT
Completely destroy the obstructions of the enemies.
You suppress with your right leg drawn in and your left extended,
And blaze with a fierce and raging fire.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA BEYA AVA RA NAM YE SOHA
On a yellow lotus and sun, from TU comes a black Tara wearing yellow garments, fierce, with upward-streaming hair, and with one face and four arms. The first right hand holds a wheel, the other a sword, the first left a lotus on which is a vajra (sometimes a noose above the yoni), the other making the threatening forefinger. She has the pratyalidha posture (left leg extended).
Click on image to enlarge
8. Tara Who Gives Supreme Spiritual Power
༄༅། །དབང་མཆོག་སྟེར་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Wangchog Terwe Drolma/ Mara Sudana Vasitottama Da Tara
Her rite is Completion Stage; she is praised in terms of destroying maras and two obstructions.
Praising Tara by her purifying demons and the two obstructions
Homage to TURE, extremely fearsome one,
Who completely destroys the chief of demons,
With a wrathful expression on your lotus face
You vanquish all foes without exception.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SHA TRUM MARAYA PHED SOHA
On a seat of a red lotus, moon and sea-monster stacked together, from RE comes a yellow Tara with one face and four arms. The first pair of hands hold a branch of an asoka tree and a lotus, the other pair are boon-granting, with a gem, and holding a flask. She sits in ardha-paryanka lalita posture.
Click on image to enlarge
9. Tara Granter of Boons
༄༅། །མཆོག་སྩོལ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Chogtsol We Drolma/ Varada Tara
Her rite is for granting the two types of attainments, common and supreme; she is praised in terms of her mudra and the symbols in her hands.
Praising Tara by the object she holds in her right and left hands
Homage to you whose fingers adorn your heart
With the mudra symbolising the Three Precious Jewels,
Adorned with a wheel of all directions,
Whose radiant light outshines all.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAM UPAKRAMA RAKSA RAKSA SOHA
On a red lotus and moon, from SWA comes a red Tara with four arms. The first pair of hands, holding a vajra and a bell, make the gesture of joy on the crown of her head. The [second] right is snapping its fingers in dancing fashion, while the second left, holding a branch of an asoka tree rains jewels on sentient beings. Her crown is Amoghasiddhi.
Click on image to enlarge
10. Tara Who Dispels All Suffering
༄༅། །མྱ་ངན་སེལ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Nya Ngen Sel We Drolma/ Soka Vinodana Tara
Her rite is entering the mandala; she is praised in terms of her crown ornaments and the sound of her laughter.
Praising Tara by her crown ornament and the sound of her laughter
Homage to you whose very joyful and shining crown ornament
Radiates a garland of light.
Who with your mirthful laughter of TUTTARA,
Subdue the demons and worldly gods.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA MARA TRA MARTA YA HUM PHED SOHA
On a red lotus and moon, from SA comes a red Tara with four arms, the first pair of hands on her crown with palms folded, the other pair holding a sword and a branch of an asoka (‘sorrowless’) tree bearing a red flower.
Click on image to enlarge
11. Tara Who Summons All Beings and Dispels Misfortune
༄༅། །ཕོངས་པ་སེལ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Phungpa Selwe Drolma/ Jag Vasi Vipan Nirbarhana Tara
Her rite is for increasing enjoyments; she is praised in terms of accomplishing activities through the ten directional guardians.
Praising Tara by her accomplishing divine actions through the ten directional guardians
Homage to you who are able to summon
All the directional guardians and their retinues.
Frowning and shaking, with the letter HUM,
You rescue all from their misfortune.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE VASU DHA RE SOHA
On a lotus and sun seat, from HA comes a black Tara with fierce form, her right hand holding a hook that summons the eight planets, her left a hook that dispels misfortune with a noose. She abides in alidha posture (right leg extended).
Click on image to enlarge
12. Tara Who Grants Prosperity and Brings About Auspicious Circumstances
༄༅། །བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྣང་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Tashi Nangwe Drolma/ Kalyana Da Tara or Manga Laloka Tara
Her rite is the fire offering; she is praised in terms of her crown ornaments.
Praising Tara by her crown ornament
Homage to you with a crescent moon adorning your crown,
And all your ornaments shining brightly;
With Amitabha in your top-knot
Eternally radiating light.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MANGA LAM PUSH TIM KURU SOHA
On a polylotus and moon, from A comes a yellow Tara with one face and eight arms, the right hands holding a trident, a hook, a vajra and a sword, the left a jewel pressed to her heart, a hook, a club and a flask.
Click on image to enlarge
13. Tara the Complete Ripener
༄༅། །ཡོངས་སུ་སྨིན་པར་མཛད་པའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Pari Pacaka Tara/ Yongsu Minpar Zedpi Drolma
Her rite is for subduing hindrances; she is praised in terms of her fierce posture.
Praising Tara by her wrathful posture
Homage to you who dwells amidst a garland of flames
Like the fire at the end of an eon.
With your right leg extended and left drawn in,
You destroy the hosts of obstructions of those who delight in the Dharma Wheel.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE PHO TRA YA BHAY MEM KURU SOHA
On a red lotus and sun, from BRUM comes a red Tara with fierce form, her first right hand holding a sword and the second an arrow, the first left a wheel and the second a bow. She abides in alidha posture (right leg extended).
Click on image to enlarge
14. Wrathful, Shaking and Frowning Tara
༄༅། །ཁྲོ་གཉེར་གཡོ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Tronyer Yowe Drolma/ Bhrkuti Tara
Her rite is a protective circle; she is praised in terms of her radiating light from a HUM syllable.
Praising Tara by the light that radiates from the letter HUM
Homage to you who strike the ground with the palm of your hand,
And stamp it with your foot.
With a wrathful glance and a letter HUM
You subdue all seven levels.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE VAJRA MAHA SARA YE BHAY MEM KURU SOHA
On an orange lotus, sun and human corpse seat, from AT comes a blue Tara with three faces, black, white and red, contracted in frowns and devouring human entrails in their mouths. She has six arms, the right hands holding a sword, a hook and a club, the left a skull, a noose and Brahma’s head. She has a crown and long necklace of human heads and is adorned with a tiger-skin and snakes. Outside, in the eight cardinal and secondary points, grow shoots of jewel trees.
Click on image to enlarge
15. Tara the Great Peaceful One Who Provides Virtues and Goodness
༄༅། །ཞི་བ་ཆེན་མོའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Shiwa Chenmo Drolma/ Maha Shanti Tara
Her ritual is the external washing ritual; she is praised in terms of her Dharmakaya aspect.
Praising Tara by her Dharmakaya Aspect
Homage to you who are happy, virtuous and peaceful,
Within the sphere of the peace of Nirvana,
Fully endowed with SOHA and OM,
You completely destroy heavy evil actions.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA PAPAM TRA SHA MANA YE SOHA
On a white lotus, from NI comes a white Tara, her three right hands with a rosary, boon-granting, and a club, the three left holding a lotus, a water-pot and a book. In Suryagupta’s text on the Praise, it is explained that the book is resting on an utpala.
Click on image to enlarge
16. Tara Destroyer of All Attachment
༄༅། །ཆགས་པ་འཇོམས་པའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Chagpa Jompi Drolma/ Raga Nisudana Tara
Her function is mind increasing; she is praised in terms of the activities of her peaceful and wrathful mantras.
Praising Tara by her divine actions of peaceful and wrathful Mantras
Homage to you who completely subdue the obstructions
Of those who delight in the Dharma Wheel,
Rescuing with the array of the ten-letter mantra
And the knowledge letter HUM.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA DHARMA PRAJNA TRA TE PARE SHO BHA YE SOHA
On an orange lotus and sun, from E comes a red Tara [with three eyes], her right hand at her heart holding a trident and her left, with raised forefinger, a tree with flowers and fruit. She sits in sattva-paryanka.
Click on image to enlarge
17. Tara Accomplisher of Joy and Bliss
༄༅། །སྒྲོལ་མ་བདེ་སྒྲུབ་མ་།།།
Drolma Deydrub Ma/ Sukha Sadhana Tara
Her rite is for binding thieves; she is praised for her wrathful activity of shaking the three worlds.
Praising Tara by her divine actions of wrathfully shaking the three worlds
Homage to TURE, stamping your feet
Born from the seed in the aspect of HUM
Who cause Mount Meru, Mandhara and Vindhya,
And all three worlds to shake.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA TSO RA TAM BHA NA SOHA
On a white lotus and sun, from SA comes an orange Tara, her two hands at her heart holding a moon-disk. She sits in sattva-paryanka.
Click on image to enlarge
18. Victorious Tara Who Increases Realizations
༄༅། །སྒྲོལ་མ་རབ་རྒྱས་མ་།།
Drolma Rabgye Ma/ Sita Vijaya Tara
Her rite is for curing the Naga disease [leprosy]; she is praised for her activity of dispelling poisons of all kinds.
Praising Tara by her divine actions of dispelling internal and external poisons
Homage to you who hold in your hand
A moon, the lake of the gods
Saying TARA twice and the letter PHAT,
You completely dispel all poisons.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA NAGA BHE SHA SHIN TEM KURU SOHA
On a seat of a white lotus, a moon and a goose, from GI comes a white Tara with four arms, the first pair joined on the crown of her head and holding hooks, the other pair boon-granting and holding an utpala marked with a book. She is in sattva-paryanka.
Click on image to enlarge
19. Tara, Extinguisher of All Suffering
༄༅། །ཕོངས་པ་སེལ་བའི་སྒྲོལ་མ་།།
Phungpa Selwe Drolma/ Jag Vasi Vipan Nirbarhana Tara
Her rite is for freeing from prison; she is praised for her activity of dispelling conflict and bad dreams.
Praising Tara by her divine actions of dispelling conflicts and bad dreams
Homage to you who are honoured by the kings of the hosts of gods,
And the gods and the kinnaras,
Through your joyful and shining pervasive armour,
All conflicts and bad dreams are dispelled.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA DUR SO BA NI MO TSA NA YE SOHA
On a white lotus and sun, from JA comes a white Tara, her two hands at her heart holding a brazier. She is in sattva-paryanka with the right leg slightly extended.
Click on image to enlarge
20. Tara, Source of All Powerful Attainments
༄༅། །སྒྲོལ་མ་དངོས་གྲུབ་འབྱུང་མ་།།
Drolma Ngodrub Jungma/ Siddhi Sambhava Tara
Her rite is for making invisible; she is praised for her activity of dispelling fever.
Praising Tara by her divine actions of dispelling diseases
Homage to you whose two eyes are like the sun and the full moon,
Radiate a pure and clear light
Say HARA twice and TUTTARA
You dispel the most violent, infections diseases.
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA BHE DE ZA RA TRA SHA MANA YE SOHA
From HA comes a magnificent white bull, upon which are a lotus and moon. On top, from PHE comes a white Tara with three eyes, slightly wrathful. Her right hand holds a trident spear and her left a pearl rosary. She is in ardha-paryanka and has a tiger-skin loincloth.
Click on image to enlarge
21. Tara of the Perfection of Wisdom and Compassion
༄༅། །སྒྲོལ་མ་ཡོངས་རྫོགས་བྱེད་མ་།།།
Drolma Yongdzog Jedma/ Paripurana Tara
Her rite is for sky-going [that is, going to the Akanistha Pure Land in this very life]; she is praised for her activity of subduing evil spirits and zombies.
Praising Tara by her divine actions of subduing evil spirits and zombies
Homage to you who have the perfect power of pacifying
Through your blessings of the Three Thatnesses;
Subduer of the hosts of evil spirits, zombies and givers of harm
O TURE, most excellent and supreme!
Mantra (Recite 21x, 108x or more):
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA SIDDHI SOHA
On a polylotus and moon, from A comes a yellow Tara with one face and eight arms, the right hands holding a trident, a hook, a vajra and a sword, the left a jewel pressed to her heart, a hook, a club and a flask.
Praise to the 21 Taras
Offering of the 21 Homages
Recite each phrase once and/ or offer prostrations with the following visualisations. With each praise and prostration, imagine that a replica of each respective Tara manifests, arising from the one before it like simultaneous sparks of fire, and sinks into you.
From your sublime abode at the Potala
O Tara – born from the green letter TAM
Whose light rescues all beings –
Come with your retinue, I beg you.
The gods and demi-gods bow
To your lotus feet, O Tara,
You who rescue all who are destitute
To you, Mother Tara, I pay homage.
OM Homage to the Venerable Arya Tara.
OM JE TSUN MA PAG MA DROL MA LA CHAG TSEL LO
1. Praising Tara by her life story
Homage to Tara, The Swift One, The Heroine,
Whose eyes are like a flash of lightning,
Who arose from the opening of a lotus,
Born from the tears of the Protector of The Three Worlds.
CHHAG TSHÄL DRÖL MA NYUR MA PA MO
CHÄN NI KÄ CHIG LOG DANG DRA MA
JIG TEN SUM GÖN CHHU KYE ZHÄL GYI
GE SAR JE WA LÄ NI JUNG MA
2. Praising Tara by the brightness and radiance of her face
Homage to you with a face like a hundred full moons in autumn,
Gathered together into one,
Blazing with brilliant light,
Like a thousand constellations.
CHHAG TSHÄL TÖN KÄI DA WA KÜN TU
GANG WA GYA NI TSEG PÄI ZHÄL MA
KAR MA TONG THRAG TSHOG PA NAM KYI
RAB TU CHHE WÄI Ö RAB BAR MA
3. Praising Tara by her colour, what she holds and her causes
Homage to you who are bluish gold,
Your hand perfectly adorned with a lotus flower;
Who arose from practicing Giving, Moral discipline,
Patience, Effort, Concentration and Wisdom.
CHHAG TSHÄL SER NGO CHHU NÄ KYE KYI
PÄ MÄ CHHAG NI NAM PAR GYÄN MA
JIN PA TSÖN DRÜ KA THUB ZHI WA
ZÖ PA SAM TÄN CHÖ YÜL NYI MA
4. Praising Tara by her being honoured by the Conquerors and the Bodhisattvas
Homage to you who surmount the Tathagathas’ Ushnishas,
Whose victorious actions are limitless
Who are greatly honoured by the Sons of Conquerors,
Who have attained every perfection.
CHHAG TSHÄL DE ZHIN SHEG PÄI TSUG TOR
THA YÄ NAM PAR GYÄL WAR CHÖ MA
MA LÜ PHA RÖL CHHIN PA THOB PÄI
GYÄL WÄI SÄ KYI SHIN TU TEN MA
5. Praising Tara by her subduing unfavourable conditions
Homage to you who with letters TUTTARA and HUM
Fill the realms of desire, direction and space.
With the seven worlds beneath your feet,
You are able to draw all beings to bliss.
CHHAG TSHÄL TUTTARA HUM YI GE
DÖ DANG CHHOG DANG NAM KHA GANG MA
JIG TEN DÜN PO ZHAB KYI NÄN TE
LÜ PA ME PAR GUG PAR NÜ MA
6. Praising Tara by her being worshipped by the great worldly gods
Homage to you who are worshipped by Indra, Agni, Brahma,
Vayu, and the other mighty gods;
And before whom the host of evil spirits,
Zombies, smell eaters and givers of harm respectfully offer praise.
CHHAG TSHÄL GYA JIN ME LHA TSHANG PA
LUNG LHA NA TSHOG WANG CHHUG CHHÖ MA
JUNG PO RO LANG DRI ZA NAM DANG
NÖ JIN TSHOG KYI DÜN NÄ TÖ MA
7. Praising Tara by her destroying opponents
Homage to you who by saying TRA (trey) and PHAT
Completely destroy the obstructions of the enemies.
You suppress with your right leg drawn in and your left extended,
And blaze with a fierce and raging fire.
CHHAG TSHÄL TRAD CHE JA DANG PHAT KYI
PHA RÖL THRÜL KHOR RAB TU JOM MA
YÄ KUM YÖN KYANG ZHAB KYI NÄN TE
ME BAR THRUG PA SHIN TU BAR MA
8. Praising Tara by her purifying demons and the two obstructions
Homage to TURE, extremely fearsome one,
Who completely destroys the chief of demons,
With a wrathful expression on your lotus face
You vanquish all foes without exception.
CHHAG TSHÄL TURE JIG PA CHHEN PO
DÜ KYI PA WO NAM PAR JOM MA
CHHU KYE ZHÄL NI THRO NYER DÄN DZÄ
DRA WO THAM CHÄ MA LÜ SÖ MA
9. Praising Tara by the object she holds in her right and left hands
Homage to you whose fingers adorn your heart
With the mudra symbolising the Three Precious Jewels,
Adorned with a wheel of all directions,
Whose radiant light outshines all.
CHHAG TSHÄL KÖN CHHOG SUM TSHÖN CHHAG GYÄI
SOR MÖ THUG KAR NAM PAR GYÄN MA
MA LÜ CHHOG KYI KHOR LÖ GYÄN PÄI
RANG GI Ö KYI TSHOG NAM THRUG MA
10. Praising Tara by her crown ornament and the sound of her laughter
Homage to you whose very joyful and shining crown ornament
Radiates a garland of light.
Who with your mirthful laughter of TUTTARA,
Subdue the demons and worldly gods.
CHHAG TSHÄL RAB TU GA WA JI PÄI
U GYÄN Ö KYI THRENG WA PEL MA
ZHE PA RAB ZHÄ TUTTARA YI
DÜ DANG JIG TEN WANG DU DZÄ MA
11. Praising Tara by her accomplishing divine actions through the ten directional guardians
Homage to you who are able to summon
All the directional guardians and their retinues.
Frowning and shaking, with the letter HUM,
You rescue all from their misfortune.
CHHAG TSHÄL SA ZHI KYONG WÄI TSHOG NAM
THAM CHÄ GUG PAR NÜ MA NYI MA
THRO NYER YO WÄI YI GE HUM GI
PHONG PA THAM CHÄ NAM PAR DRÖL MA
12. Praising Tara by her crown ornament
Homage to you with a crescent moon adorning your crown,
And all your ornaments shining brightly;
With Amitabha in your top-knot
Eternally radiating light.
CHHAG TSHÄL DA WÄI DUM BÜ U GYÄN
GYÄN PA THAM CHÄ SHIN TU BAR MA
RÄL PÄI KHUR NA Ö PAG ME LÄ
TAG PAR SHIN TU Ö RAB DZÄ MA
13. Praising Tara by her wrathful posture
Homage to you who dwells amidst a garland of flames
Like the fire at the end of an eon.
With your right leg extended and left drawn in,
You destroy the hosts of obstructions of those who delight in the Dharma Wheel.
CHHAG TSHÄL KÄL PÄI THA MÄI ME TAR
BAR WÄI THRENG WÄI Ü NA NÄ MA
YÄ KYANG YÖN KUM KÜN NÄ KOR GÄI
DRA YI PUNG NI NAM PAR JOM MA
14. Praising Tara by the light that radiates from the letter HUM
Homage to you who strike the ground with the palm of your hand,
And stamp it with your foot.
With a wrathful glance and a letter HUM
You subdue all seven levels.
CHHAG TSHÄL SA ZHII NGÖ LA CHHAG GI
THIL GYI NÜN CHING ZHAB KYI DUNG MA
THRO NYER CHÄN DZÄ YI GE HUM GI
RIM PA DÜN PO NAM NI GEM MA
15. Praising Tara by her Dharmakaya Aspect
Homage to you who are happy, virtuous and peaceful,
Within the sphere of the peace of Nirvana,
Fully endowed with SOHA and OM,
You completely destroy heavy evil actions.
CHHAG TSHÄL DE MA GE MA ZHI MA
NYA NGÄN DÄ ZHI CHÖ YÜL NYI MA
SVAHA OM DANG YANG DAG DÄN PÄ
DIG PA CHHEN PO JOM PA NYI MA
16. Praising Tara by her divine actions of peaceful and wrathful Mantras
Homage to you who completely subdue the obstructions
Of those who delight in the Dharma Wheel,
Rescuing with the array of the ten-letter mantra
And the knowledge letter HUM.
CHHAG TSHÄL KÜN NÄ KOR RAB GA WÄI
DRA YI LÜ NI NAM PAR GEM MA
YI GE CHU PÄI NGAG NI KÖ PÄI
RIG PA HUM LÄ DRÖL MA NYI MA
17. Praising Tara by her divine actions of wrathfully shaking the three worlds
Homage to TURE, stamping your feet
Born from the seed in the aspect of HUM
Who cause Mount Meru, Mandhara and Vindhya,
And all three worlds to shake.
CHHAG TSHÄL TURE ZHAB NI DEB PÄ
HUM GI NAM PÄI SA BÖN NYI MA
RI RAB MANDHARA DANG BIG JE
JIG TEN SUM NAM YO WA NYI MA
18. Praising Tara by her divine actions of dispelling internal and external poisons
Homage to you who hold in your hand
A moon, the lake of the gods
Saying TARA twice and the letter PHAT,
You completely dispel all poisons.
CHHAG TSHÄL LHA YI TSHO YI NAM PÄI
RI DAG TAG CHÄN CHHAG NA NAM MA
TARA NYI JÖ PHAT KYI YI GE
DUG NAM MA LÜ PA NI SEL MA
19. Praising Tara by her divine actions of dispelling conflicts and bad dreams
Homage to you who are honoured by the kings of the hosts of gods,
And the gods and the kinnaras,
Through your joyful and shining pervasive armour,
All conflicts and bad dreams are dispelled.
CHHAG TSHÄL LHA YI TSHOG NAM GYÄL PO
LHA DANG MI AM CHI YI TEN MA
KÜN NÄ GO CHHA GA WÄI JI GYI
TSÖ DANG MI LAM NGÄN PA SEL MA
20. Praising Tara by her divine actions of dispelling diseases
Homage to you whose two eyes are like the sun and the full moon,
Radiate a pure and clear light
Say HARA twice and TUTTARA
You dispel the most violent, infections diseases.
CHHAG TSHÄL NYI MA DA WA GYÄ PÄI
CHÄN NYI PO LA Ö RAB SÄL MA
HARA NYI JÖ TUTTARA YI
SHIN TU DRAG PÖI RIM NÄ SEL MA
21. Praising Tara by her divine actions of subduing evil spirits and zombies
Homage to you who have the perfect power of pacifying
Through your blessings of the Three Thatnesses;
Subduer of the hosts of evil spirits, zombies and givers of harm
O TURE, most excellent and supreme!
CHHAG TSHÄL DE NYI SUM NAM KÖ PÄ
ZHI WÄI THÜ DANG YANG DAG DÄN MA
DÖN DANG RO LANG NÖ JIN TSHOG NAM
JOM PA TURE RAB CHHOG NYI MA
Thus concludes this praise of the root mantra
and the offering of the twenty–one homages.
TSA WÄI NGAG KYI TÖ PA DI DANG
CHHAG TSHÄL WA NI NYI SHU TSA CHIG
Mantra: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA
The Condensed Praise to the 21 Taras
OM to the transcendent subduer, Arya Tara, I prostrate.
Homage to the glorious one who frees with TARE;
With TUTTARA you calm all fears;
You bestow all success with TURE;
To the sound SOHA I pay great homage.
Mantra: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA
Sources of information:
Deities of Tibetan Buddhism
In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress
Tara in the Palm of Your Hand
For more interesting information:
- Homage to the Supreme Mother Tara
- Tara
- Spectacular White Tara…
- Holy Mother Tara comes to KFR!
- Heroic Red Tara (Suryagupta Lineage)
- Cittamani Tara
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
I have been doing Tara practice since 2001. This is an invaluable resource. Thank you so much!
Tara is undoubtedly the most powerful female deity in the Buddhist pantheon. Known as the “mother of liberation”, and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. Tara manifests in innumerable forms to benefit sentient beings. Tara appeared in as many as 21 forms, As a fully enlightened female buddha, Tara is the actuality of compassion and wisdom, and meditating on her helps us awaken our own nature. Of which there are 4 types of activities such as pacifying, increasing, overpowering and wrathful. She is depicted in five different colors, the most common of which are white, yellow, red, and black . Interesting read and detailed explanation of the 21 Taras. Amazing art pieces of all the Taras painting by the talented Mr V.V. Sapar. Thanks you for painting such wonderful and realistic images of the manifestations of Tara. Love to see it and a blessing for those looking at it.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Thanks for sharing this. I am going to lead a ZOOM meditation on Tara during the pandemic
and have given my students a pointer to your very informative website.
Fred Cooper
Tara’s energy is so soothing. I instantly feel rejuvenated when I do this praise 🙂
Tara appears as a female bodhisattva is the “mother of liberation”, and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. She is a favourite among many Tibetan Buddhist practitioners Wow …good to know there’s 21 Taras according to the Suryagupta lineage. I am glad to come across this article to increase my knowledge of Tara. Each of the 21 Taras manifests in different forms with different numbers of faces, arms, and widely differing gestures and attributes. We are very fortunate to have Rinpoche sharing with us the prayers and practices of Tara. I have included the short Mantra in my daily Sadhana . May more people benefit from engaging in Tara’s practice to create a strong connection with Tara..
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing .
This incredible White Tara was discovered in Indonesia. It is said to be 800 years old and made by Nagarjuna. A local person Mr. Supriyono dreamed of a bluish red dragon surrounding the village and splashing down into the well before finding Her. This beautiful White Tara was discovered in Indonesia. See video: – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dW0Ms1oR0
The 21 Taras, I think it covers all forms of problems and difficulty that sentient beings can encounter. So we are fortunate such practices are available to us to practice them. Cittamani Tara which is not covered here is a form of Tantric practices.
I like it so much that the many Tara are given an Indian artist interpretation, very beautifully drawn pictures. May Tara inspire many men and women to take up her practices and become enlightened from it.
Thank you very much Rinpoche for this beautiful 21 Taras. I always love and have strong connection with Mother Tara,i believe. The iconography and explaination is very good and beautiful.I am looking forward to do social media on these 21 Taras soon. _/\_
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the iconography, mantra and description of 21 Taras from the tradition of Mahasiddha Suryagupta. The background and explanation of each Tara’s manifestation from this article shows the completeness of Mother Tara’s practice to help all practitioners through Her skillful forms of manifestation. I am personally interested to focus more on Golden Colour Tara (Kanaka Vana Tara) as this manifestation of Mother Tara emphasizes on the 6 Paramitas practice, which are giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom.
There are many benefits we can receive from Mother Tara’s practice inclusive of granting us virtuous wishes, overcoming obstacles and difficulties swiftly, bless us with protection, keep us away from harm and danger, pacifying illnesses, epidemics, diseases and our negativity, and ultimately Mother Tara can save us from internal and external 8 fears. Thus, Mother Tara is well-known in Buddhism and being practiced by all Buddhist lineages.
May Mother Tara bless and protect all sentient beings from any harm and danger. Through Mother Tara’s prayer and practice, may all of us be freed from samsara and achieving Buddhahood with attainment and enlightenment.
Thank you with folded hands,
kin hoe
Thank you, Rinpoche, for this comprehensive article of Tara according to the Suryagupta lineage. The 21 Taras depicted in Suryagupta lineage manifested in different forms with different iconographies. They have different numbers of faces, arms, hand mudras as well as attributes, which supplement each Tara’s unique ability to help sentient beings using different types of enlightened activities; i.e. pacifying, increasing, overpowering and wrathful.
There are different lineages of the 21 Taras. Suryagupta’s 21 Tara depicts each Tara has a unique posture, color and implements. The Dipamkara Atisha tradition, on the other hand, portrays each Tara in the same posture. There are differences in terms of the manner in which the practice is bestowed to practitioners. In the Dipamkara Atisha tradition, tantric initiations for all 21 Taras are bestowed during one ceremony, whereas initiations are given for each manifestation in the Suryagupta tradition.
We are very fortunate to have Rinpoche sharing here with us prayers and practices of Tara that does not need initiation. Anyone can just recite the prayers and mantras on this blog post to create a strong connection with Tara. May more people benefit from engaging in Tara’s practice.
Tara, The “Savioress”, a female Buddha, with a particularly long history of being worshiped by many great Indian and Tibetan masters. It is said that the earliest known image of Tara can be found today on the walls of the rock-cut Buddhist Monasteries complex of the Ellora caves in Maharashtra(7th century CE). Archaeology study established that the worship of Tara commenced during the period of the Pala Empire in Northeastern India in the 8th century CE. Scripturally, the earliest text on Tara is the ancient “Praise to the twenty-one Tara” which is said to be within the collection of the spoken words of Lord Buddha Shakyamuni, called ‘Kangyur’. Each of the twenty-one Tara that the Buddha specially named within the Praises actually corresponds to a particular emanation of Tara. Each of these emanations posses a different aspect of the same female Buddha Tara. It is said that Pravira, or the herioc red Tara is the first of the twenty-one Tara featured in the Suryaguptas Universe. As such, it is therefore this Tara, who corresponds to the first verse of the praise to the twenty-one Tara, which is called “Praising Tara by her life story” which reads as follows: “Homage to Tara, the swift one, the Herione, whose eyes are like a flash of lightning, who arose from the opening of a lotus, born from the tears of the Protector of the three Worlds.” Tara in all her manifestations is found virtually in every major shrine and monastery, many of these ancient images have shown miraculous signs in the past to many great masters. As such, these bear testament to the popularity of the worship of Tara. Tara is said to be universal, free from sects, free from schools of Buddhism and free from labels. Tara is a fully enlightened Buddha, whereupon anyone relying upon her will be blessed! May everyone sincerely be taken care of by Tara to have happiness, good heart and a long healthy life now and and in all long future lives too!
Mother Tara is one of the most commonly worshipped female Buddhas in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. She is a favourite of many Tibetan Buddhist practitioners and along with the various mental dispositions resulted in the wide variety of Tara emanations as antidote to these delusions. Each is unique with a unique ability to bless practitioners along with a sadhana and mantra to tap into this form of blessing.
Due to the ancient ‘Praise to the 21 Taras’, it has become an accepted norm that there are 21 main emanations of Tara. The corresponding forms of Tara are bestowed as a mantra and sadhana for each form according to a particular lineage. What is believed to be the oldest is the Suryagupta lineage of the 21 Taras. These 21 Tara are bestowed as individual initiations for each of the 21 Taras. Of the 21 Taras in the lineage of Suryagupta, I find the wrathful and powerful 7th Tara Who Crushes Adversaries particularly exciting. I love the beautiful Indian renditions of realistic Taras very much.
Tara is one of my all time favourite Buddha, she has a very motherly energy that’s transcend all religion. I often saw Mother Tara statues at various Buddhist temple of different lineages and at Hindu temples too! Many has said that Green Tara and White Tara were manifested from the tears of Avalokitesvara, as such Tara also considered as the Buddha of Mercy – KuanYin in the Chinese traditions. There is no doubt that Tara’s is very popular and effective.