Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

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Feathers
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Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by Feathers »

Hi! Sorry if this has been asked before, I did a search but didn't come up with anything.

I feel very drawn to the figure and stories of Tara. I like the idea of saying one of her mantras (Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha). I've started reading 'How to free your mind' by Thubten Chodron, and she instructs that you shouldn't just start saying the mantra - there should be some introduction or guidance to working with it? Can anyone recommend any resources? Are there any prerequisites to Tara practice (I know there are for some other things in Tibetan Buddhism)?
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Losal Samten
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by Losal Samten »

I believe that Tara's mantra is a sutra mantra meaning that it does not require an empowerment/lung unlike a Vajrayana mantra meaning that you can practice recitation straight away. If you can you should look into an empowerment as it as it can strengthen your practice.

Some books of interest may be:
In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress by Martin Wilson
Tara's Enlightened Activity by the Khenpo brothers
Bodhisattva of Compassion: The Mystical Tradition of Guan Yin by John Blofeld (technically about Guan Yin/Avalokitesvara but also includes a section on Tara as the two have been somewhat comingled in post-Tang China)
Last edited by Losal Samten on Sun Sep 14, 2014 1:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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qwerty13
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by qwerty13 »

You can do Tara sadhana as long as you dont generate yourself as the deity, but visualize Tara in front of you.
This probably gets you started: http://www.losangsamten.com/sadhana/green_tara_2.pdf

EDIT: And as far as I know, there is no prerequisite to Taras mantra, but of course some initiation makes the practice more powerful.
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Grigoris
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by Grigoris »

Feathers, if you want to you can go here and receive the empowerment and lung for both the Green and White Tara practices from the Drikung Kagyu teacher Garchen Rinpoche.

Have you taken refuge?
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Feathers
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by Feathers »

Thanks for all the resources :-)

Sherab Dorje, I have taken refuge and the precepts online here
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garudha
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by garudha »

Sherab Dorje wrote:Feathers, if you want to you can go here and receive the empowerment and lung for both the Green and White Tara practices from the Drikung Kagyu teacher Garchen Rinpoche.

Have you taken refuge?
Hi, In this video the (English speaking) group prostrate themselves before Tara and then follow-on with a song.

Is there a transcription of the (English) words which are spoken before tara in this/these Empowerment(s) ?

Thanks.
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Grigoris
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by Grigoris »

garudha wrote:
Sherab Dorje wrote:Feathers, if you want to you can go here and receive the empowerment and lung for both the Green and White Tara practices from the Drikung Kagyu teacher Garchen Rinpoche.

Have you taken refuge?
Hi, In this video the (English speaking) group prostrate themselves before Tara and then follow-on with a song.

Is there a transcription of the (English) words which are spoken before tara in this/these Empowerment(s) ?

Thanks.
I don't know which videos you were watching, but the videos start from the bottom of the list and proceed upwards.

The Tara practices start from the video 5/11/13 AM First the lung (ritual reading) is given, then the White Tara practice starts. If you go to the web store you will find the practices (normally in tibetan, english and english transliteration of the tibetan).
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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Grigoris
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by Grigoris »

Feathers wrote:Thanks for all the resources :-)

Sherab Dorje, I have taken refuge and the precepts online here
No problems then. One needs to have taken refuge to properly receive empowerments.
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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garudha
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Re: Prerequisites for using a Tara mantra

Post by garudha »

Sherab Dorje wrote:
garudha wrote:
Sherab Dorje wrote:Feathers, if you want to you can go here and receive the empowerment and lung for both the Green and White Tara practices from the Drikung Kagyu teacher Garchen Rinpoche.

Have you taken refuge?
Hi, In this video the (English speaking) group prostrate themselves before Tara and then follow-on with a song.

Is there a transcription of the (English) words which are spoken before tara in this/these Empowerment(s) ?

Thanks.
I don't know which videos you were watching, but the videos start from the bottom of the list and proceed upwards.

The Tara practices start from the video 5/11/13 AM First the lung (ritual reading) is given, then the White Tara practice starts. If you go to the web store you will find the practices (normally in tibetan, english and english transliteration of the tibetan).
Thanks. It was actually something I heard from the video you linked to. I started to transcribe the words before googling the first line. I then found the prayer quoted below.

It would seem to of been composed by Jigten Sumgön (1143-1217) the founder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage.

@http://drikungdharmasurya.org/2014/04/a ... ten-gonpo/
A PRAYER TO “TĀRĀ THE SEVEN PROTECTORS” — BY LORD JIGTEN GONPO

Once, when Lord Jigten Gonpo was staying at Echung Cave in Drikung, after having attained Enlightenment, he had a vision of the Seven Taras.
At that time, he made the above supplication prayer through the seven verses.
This prayer has manifold blessings and it is widely used supplication prayer for the seven protections


In the Realm of the Unborn Dharmadhatu
Abides the Blessed Mother Tara
She who bestows happiness on all sentient beings
I pray to you, protect us from all kinds of fears!

Not realizing oneself as Dharmakaya
The minds of sentient beings are possessed by negative emotions
These mother sentient beings wandering in Samsara
Oh Blessed Mother, please protect us!

Not having the deep understanding of the Dharma from within
And having followed the labelling of words on a conventional level
Beings who are deceived by wrong philosophical views and dogmas
Oh Perfect Mother, please protect us!

Difficult to realize is one’s own mind
Some realize it but do not practice perfectly afterwards
Those who are lost in unwholesome worldly activities

Oh Blessed Mother, Embodiment of Perfect Mindfulness, please protect us!

The Absolute Reality of the Mind is the unborn Non-Dual Buddha-wisdom
Yet because of habitual grasping at dualistic conceptions
One is bound by it no matter what one does
Oh Perfect Mother of Non-Dual Wisdom, please protect us!

Grasping at the conception of Emptiness some think they understand Absolute Reality
But they do not understand the interdependence of Cause and Effect of Phenomenal Reality
These beings are deluded with regards to the Reality of Phenomena
Oh Omniscient Mother, please protect us!

Like the nature of space which is beyond all conceptions
The Reality of all conditioned phenomena is no different from that
But it has not been realized, therefore
Oh Perfectly Enlightened Mother, please protect us beginners on the Path!
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