Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a sādhana, a liturgical manual for the ritual practice of the deity Ārya Tārā. It outlines a structured sequence of meditative and ritual actions designed to transition the practitioner from ordinary perception to a consecrated state. The process begins with preliminary physical and mental preparations, specifically prostrations and the cultivation of the four Brahmā abodes to stabilize the practitioner's affective state. The ritual then progresses to the invitation of the five Tathāgatas and other enlightened beings via the visualization of light rays emanating from the seed syllable TĀṂ. By committing to these specific visualizations and the recitation of a dedicated empowerment mantra, the practitioner seeks to receive a stream of the nectar of wisdom. The text thus functions as a technical guide for achieving a state of ritual purity and spiritual empowerment through the synthesis of mantra, visualization, and ethical cultivation.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the practice of the deity Ārya Tārā, the Āryatārāsādhana belongs to the genre of sādhana. The work is attributed to the Indian author Śākyaśrībhadra. It was translated into the Tibetan language by dpyal pad mo can and is preserved in the Tengyur, specifically within volume ཤ, where it comprises two pages. This version is situated within the Other Wisdom Tantras collection of the classical Tibetan period. The work enacts a structured sequence of meditative and ritual actions, beginning with prostrations and the cultivation of the four Brahmā abodes. It guides the practitioner through the visualization of light rays from the seed syllable TĀṂ to invite the five Tathāgatas and other enlightened beings, followed by the recitation of an empowerment mantra to receive the nectar of wisdom. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical specifications of ritual purity and the precise visualizations required to achieve spiritual empowerment through the liturgical framework of the Tārā tradition.
The work is significant as it exemplifies the Indo-Tibetan synthesis of mantra and visualization used to invoke specific deities for spiritual attainment. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of the precise procedural nature of Vajrayāna ritual technology.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Preliminary Practices
Instructions on prostrations and the meditation on the four Brahmā abodes.
2
Invocation and Empowerment
The use of the seed syllable TĀṂ to invite Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, followed by offerings and the recitation of an empowerment mantra.
Themes
Ritual Visualization (2)
Cultivation of the Brahmā Abodes (1)
Empowerment (Abhiṣeka) (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Āryatārāsādhanam. In the language of Tibet: ’Phags ma sgrol ma’i sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of the Noble Tārā). Homage to the Noble Tārā!
First, having performed the branches such as prostration and so forth, one should meditate on the four Brahmā abodes: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Then, by reciting: oṃ svabhāvaśuddhāḥ sarvadharmāḥ svabhāvaśuddho ’haṃ, one should resolve that all phenomena are emptiness. From within that state, from the syllable paṃ comes a lotus, and from a a moon disc; upon these, the green syllable tāṃ completely transforms into the Noble Tārā, green in color, with one face and two hands. Her right hand is in the gesture of supreme generosity (varada), and her left holds the stem of an utpala flower. She sits in the vajra posture, beautifully adorned with various ornaments. One should meditate on her as being like a reflection in a clear mirror.
At her heart, upon a moon disc, is a Tārā the size of a thumb-joint. At her heart, upon an utpala flower, one should visualize the seed syllable. By its light, the wisdom being (jñānasattva) is summoned from Akaniṣṭha; one should make offerings and perform the summoning, entering, binding, and pleasing with jaḥ hūṃ baṃ hoḥ. Then, at the crown, throat, and heart, one should bless the body, speech, and mind with the three syllables oṃ āḥ hūṃ, which are white, red, and dark blue in color respectively.
Then, with light rays from the syllable TĀṂ, invite all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, such as the five Tathāgatas, and present offerings and perform the empowerment. Recite: OṂ ĀḤ SARVA TATHĀGATA ABHIṢEKASAMAYA ŚRIYE HŪṂ. By saying this, they cause a stream of the nectar of wisdom to descend, completely satisfying one’s own body, speech, and mind. One should then visualize the Tathāgata Amoghasiddhi, formed from the subsequent stream of that nectar, upon the crown of the head. Furthermore, light rays radiate from that TĀṂ in the ten directions; visualize that they strike all sentient beings, transforming them into the form of Tārā, and then reabsorb back into that very syllable. By repeatedly performing this radiation and reabsorption, if weariness should arise, one should recite the mantra: OṂ TĀRE TUTTĀRE TURE SVĀHĀ. This concludes the Sādhana of the Noble Tārā, originating from the presence of the great Kashmiri Paṇḍita Śākyaśrībhadra.