Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a devotional hymn addressed to the goddess Tārā, structured as a supplication of lamentation. The author employs a rhetorical strategy of contrast, juxtaposing Tārā's universal capacity for liberation and her role as a protector of the destitute against the practitioner's own perceived state of neglect and suffering. By utilizing vivid imagery—such as the 'dance of the meditative absorption posture' and the metaphor of a fly cast into fire—the text emphasizes the urgency of the practitioner's plight. The work transitions from a plea for attention to an appeal for refuge based on Tārā's 'hundredfold power of skillful means.' Ultimately, the text commits the reader to a position of total dependence on the deity, arguing that despite the practitioner's sins or faults, their commitment to the benefit of others serves as a legitimate basis for seeking divine intervention and spiritual rescue.
Provenance
About this text
A eulogy addressed to the goddess Tārā, the Devītārākuvākyādhyeṣaṇanāmastotra is a devotional work of the classical Tibetan period. The text is attributed to the Indian author Sarvajñāmitra. It was translated into Tibetan by Śākyaśrībhadra and lo tsa ba byams pa’i dpal, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཤ) within the collection of Other Wisdom Tantras, where it extends over three pages. The work enacts a supplication of lamentation, utilizing a rhetorical strategy that contrasts Tārā's universal capacity for liberation and her protection of the destitute against the practitioner's own state of suffering. Through vivid imagery—such as the metaphor of a fly cast into fire and the dance of the meditative absorption posture—the text argues for the necessity of divine intervention. The practitioner appeals for refuge in Tārā's hundredfold power of skillful means, suggesting that a commitment to the benefit of others provides a basis for seeking relief from sins and faults. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific devotional structures of the Tārā tradition and the linguistic transition from the Sanskrit original to the Tibetan translation.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Praise to the Goddess Tārā called “A Supplication of Lamentation”” (Toh 1694), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1694
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work illustrates the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of using lamentation as a spiritual tool to evoke compassion from a deity. It highlights the specific role of Tārā as a swift responder to those in distress, reflecting a theological emphasis on skillful means over strict karmic retribution.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Invocation
Formal homage to Tārā and her role as the liberator of the world.
2
Lamentation
A plea questioning why the deity has neglected the practitioner despite her power to bring bliss to the three worlds.
3
Appeal for Refuge
A request for protection based on Tārā's skillful means and the practitioner's dedication to the benefit of others.
Themes
Divine Compassion and Liberation (1-2)
The Nature of Suffering and Neglect (2)
Skillful Means and Refuge (3)
Altruism as a Merit for Salvation (3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Praise to the Goddess Tārā called “A Supplication of Lamentation”·
In the language of India: Devītārākrandadeśanāma-stotra. In the language of Tibet: The Praise Entitled "The Supplication of Lamentation to the Goddess Tārā." Homage to the Venerable Noble Tārā!
Homage, homage to her who liberates the entire world!
Homage to her who protects all the destitute and the helpless!
Homage to her who cares for those who remember her again and again!
Protect me today, for I am now without a protector!
Formerly, from the tears of the Protector Vipaśyin, you were born; at that very moment, he spoke these words: "Whoever exists within cyclic existence who is terrified by fear, I shall protect them all"—please remember this vow!
With a mind as deep as space and a complexion like the sky, you who possess compassion for wandering beings, do not fail the promise you made to take hold of the beings dwelling in cyclic existence!
While you yourself sport in the assembly of vidyādhara deities with untainted joy and bliss, your own subjects and children are being burned in fire! O, O, you of unimpeded wisdom, look upon us!
Having committed my own transgressions, I have fallen into the terrors of fire, water, enemies, and the like. If you protect me when I remember your form, why would you not protect me now?
When you cause the stream of nectar from your own hands and offerings to descend, you simultaneously satisfy hundreds of thousands of hungry ghosts; yet you do not cause even a single drop to fall upon my body, which is being consumed by fire!
With the sweet, cool, and refreshing shade of your lovely hand-symbol, the utpala flower, you dispel the torment of even a slight touch; yet you do not even brush against me, your devoted child!
With your compassionate right foot, extending your beautiful big toe downward—
If you satisfy the three lower realms, why do you neglect us, the destitute?
With the dance of the meditative absorption posture, with the left leg drawn in, you bring bliss to the three worlds.
Like a fly cast into fire, why am I not moved by the wind of your dancing steps?
If even a pig, a scorpion, an outcaste, or a leper are transformed into a beautiful and lovely divine form when gazed upon by your smiling, joyful face,
why have I alone not become an object of your vision?
Whoever beholds your body, so graceful, supple, majestic, and radiant, finds their purpose fulfilled.
But to me, your disciple who seeks you with one-pointed devotion, you do not show your own form.
If your lotus eyes, with their long, trailing lashes, cast a sidelong glance, one becomes like the god of desire.
You do not seem to know how I appear, even though I am always in your very seat.
With divine ears that follow all sounds, you know all objects and times.
I, a wretched man, call out with a cry; why does the thunder of the clouds not reach the rocky mountain?
Remembering the nose of the Protectress, the Goddess, I guard the scent of the sands of the Ganges.
The smoke of my flesh and fat, scorched by fire here, does not reach the vast directions.
O Great Sage, sole Mother, if your moon-like tongue knows the taste on the tip of a bee’s beak,
then the Lion, the Taker, might be bewildered by the taste of the sacrificial offering.
If you, who possess a vajra body, know the touch of a hundred atoms of dust,
why does the unbearable touch of the wrathful King of Sin not reach you?
Unobstructed in all directions and times, unattached and unmixed, whatever you please—
O Knower, do you not consider me, of such ill fortune, fallen into this state today?
Whether I or others commit sins, or if I am under the power and control of others, you, who possess a hundredfold power of skillful means, act as my refuge. Whatever faults I may have committed here, since I have single-mindedly applied myself to the benefit of others, I have sought to enter into the midst of one hundred and eight men. In their midst, I, your servant, am to be burned. Alas, O Sole Mother, I am tormented! From that very state where the results of past karma are pursued, your heart, speech, and body are being destroyed. What else do you think of me? Alas! From the cool abode at the lotus feet of you, the deity, I am being cooked by the blazing fires of hell, just as one is consumed by a fire of pitch. "Who is bearing this?" you ask. Therefore, O sole protector of the protectorless, through your unimpeded skillful means and compassion, whatever is pleasing to me and to all beings—please act to make it so. Yet, as I am burning here, may the thorns of all embodied beings, their afflictions and misdeeds, be consumed by this fire. Now, in whom shall I place my hope?
When the Kashmiri master known as Sarvajñāmitra was surrounded by one hundred and seven men and burned with sandalwood fire, he offered this prayer in verses of lamentation to his personal deity, the Noble Lady Ārya Tārā. In an instant, a moment, a brief flash, a stream of rain as thick as a yoke fell from the Noble Lady’s hand, and it is said that he became like a lotus in the midst of a lake.
Translated by Paṇḍita Śākyaśrī and the translator Byams pa’i dpal. This is complete.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.