Teachings given by Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery and Theravada Yoga Society of Nepal in May 1987, translated by Jingyi Gong

 

There are many internal obstacles that hinder the development of the mind, and these internal obstacles will give rise to external obstacles. Therefore, in order to succeed in teaching and practice, in order to achieve the lam rim to enlightenment, you must rely on a special deity or Buddha, such as Tara. In order to help all sentient beings successfully achieve temporary and ultimate happiness, all the actions of the Buddhas are manifested in the female form of Tara, the savior.

 

 

Many Indian yogis rely on Tara. They became enlightened by taking refuge in Tara, and accomplished great things for the sake of Buddhism and sentient beings, guiding countless disciples to achieve worldly and ultimate peace and happiness on the path. For example, the great Pandita Atisha relied on Tara to achieve the entire path to enlightenment.

 

 

Atisha was invited by the devout Tibetan King Zhiguang to re-establish the Buddha's teachings and promote them in Tibet. He also wrote "The Lamp of the Path to Enlightenment" and established the term "Lam Stage to Enlightenment". Many people have achieved enlightenment by listening to, meditating on, and practicing "The Lamp of the Way to Bodhi."

 

 

In addition to benefiting Tibetan practitioners who practice and achieve the path to Bodhi, Venerable Atisha's treatises have also widely benefited Westerners even today. The light of this enlightenment lam-rim teaching has driven away much ignorance, even from the hearts of thousands of Westerners. Because "The Lamp of the Path to Bodhi" integrates all the Buddha's teachings and becomes a step-by-step practice step, anyone can use it to achieve Bodhi. Many practitioners use it to cultivate their minds on the Path to Bodhi.

 

 

Even though Venerable Atisha has passed away in Tibet for a long time, he still provides us with the opportunity to understand the teachings of the lam-rim and benefit us. Understanding and practicing this path gives us confidence and great happiness. By understanding the causes of happiness, we have the opportunity to achieve any happiness we desire. This is the grace of Venerable Atisha that benefits all sentient beings.

 

 

By relying on Tara, Atisha can benefit all sentient beings and promote the teachings. Throughout his life, Tara guided him all the time. When he needed to make a decision in order to serve sentient beings, such as whether to go to Tibet, he consulted Tara and followed her instructions. Likewise, even now, Tibetan yogis who are practicing the Lam Rim and have achieved success in mind training still rely on Tara.

 

 

Benefits of Tara Dharma

 

 

By practicing Tara, you can quickly achieve the ultimate peace and happiness of achieving Bodhi. You will get more happy merits. And it can prevent painful reincarnations in the next life. Receive prophecies from the Buddhas and attain Bodhi. In addition to these, Tara practice has many other benefits. Reciting the Twenty-One Taras with sincerity at dawn or dusk, or remembering Tara, chanting verses and reciting mantras at any time day or night, will protect you from fear and danger and fulfill all your wishes. desire. If you pray to Tara, Tara will answer and help you very quickly.

 

 

Whether it is reciting the Tara Mantra or chanting the Twenty-One Goddess of Destiny, the practice of Tara will also have many temporary benefits. Tara can solve many difficulties in life: she can prevent you from premature death; help you recover from illness; bring you career success; help you find a job; and bring you wealth. When you encounter particularly serious difficulties, such as a life-threatening illness, if you rely on Tara, you will usually overcome the difficulty or recover from the illness. If you take poison, if you rely on Tara, the poison will not harm you. By praying to Tara and reciting the Tara mantra, couples who have difficulty conceiving can also have children as they wish. By practicing Tara, you can achieve any happiness you want in this life.

 

 

If you recite the Praise of the Twenty-One Mothers every night, I can guarantee that you will not starve to death. This is also a common experience for lay practitioners or monks who have financial difficulties. Through the practice of Tara, their difficulties can be improved. In my personal experience, I have seen many people pray and take refuge in Tara and save their lives from life-threatening illnesses without taking medicine.

 

 

The meaning of "tali"

 

 

The Tara mantra is "Om Taret Lie Du Taret Stud". To explain the meaning of "Talie, Talie, Dulie": "Talie" means liberation from reincarnation. Samsara refers to the five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. The aggregates caused by the seeds of karma and the defilements of defilements are where I am established. Under the control of karma and defilements, the consciousness of past lives is reincarnated into this life. Because these aggregates are stained by the seeds of karma and defilements, when we encounter something we want or don’t want, defilements such as attachment and hatred will arise. Because the seeds of trouble are there, we create karma again and again. Karma and defilements cause the consciousness aggregate to reincarnate again and give rise to the aggregate of the next life.

 

 

Although this body will not continue in the next life, the consciousness will continue in the next life. Life after life continues, from this life to the next, from the past life to this life, the consciousness aggregate continues. The aggregates that connect the present life are followed by the aggregates of the next life. This is why these aggregates are called samsara, or the flow of life and death.

 

 

So "Talay" means that Tara frees all sentient beings from samsara and from real pain or difficulty. You can connect this with the specific sufferings in life: birth, old age, illness and death; encountering things you don’t want and dislike; being unable to find what you want or finding it but not being satisfied. No matter how much pleasure there is, it is not satisfying at all.

 

 

And in reincarnation, nothing is certain. You have to leave this loser over and over again and jump into another loser again and again. Just like this, the pain of being born is experienced again and again.

 

 

Your mother in this life comes from her mother, your grandmother; your grandmother also comes from another mother; and that mother also comes from another mother. The same goes for my father. You can realize that the body you have now is the combination of all essence and blood, formed from this earth, from the beginning of human beings, for countless generations, from parents to children. The father's essence is passed down to you from your father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc. The same goes for maternal blood, which comes to you through your mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, etc. Because the body you have now is the continuation of the blood of all these people, father, mother, and father, so there is no need to cling to it, and there is no reason to cling to this body, this reincarnation. And our body is like a big sewer where waste from all the toilets in a big city flows.

 

 

By combining with one body again and again, you will experience pain again and again. If you have a higher social status, you will drop to a lower class. This happens again and again. When you are born, you are born alone, without anyone around you; when you die, you die alone. Even this body does not accompany the consciousness, which must go alone to the next life. All of this is where the real pain lies. If you rely on Tara by taking refuge in Tara and practicing Tara practices, such as reciting mantras or supplications, Tara will liberate you from all these real sufferings through "answers".

 

 

The meaning of "Total"

 

 

The second word "Dutara" means to free you from the eight kinds of fear. These eight fears relate to external dangers from earth, water, fire and wind, as well as from things like thieves and dangerous animals. However, the main dangers come from ignorance, attachment, anger, arrogance, jealousy, stinginess, suspicion and wrong views. These eight defilements in the mind are the main dangers. By taking refuge in Tara and practicing Tara, you can be liberated from the inherent dangers of these eight defilements. You can also use this method to free yourself from external dangers, because external dangers come from internal troubles.

 

 

The second word "Dutara" means to free you from the eight kinds of fear and the real cause of suffering: karma and the defilements that cause all suffering. By taking refuge in Tara and practicing Tara, you can be liberated from the real causes of suffering: this is what Tutara means.

 

 

The meaning of "Dulie"

 

 

The third word "Dulie" frees you from illness. Among the Four Noble Truths, "Dulie" means the truth of cessation, which is the ultimate dharma. From the perspective of freedom from illness, our real illness is ignorance of our true nature, and all the defilements caused by ignorance. This is our true illness. These troublesome diseases cease, and all real suffering and the difficulties they create cease. By freeing ourselves from illness, Dhula actually frees us from the real cause of suffering—the defilements—and also frees us from real suffering.

 

 

How can we achieve this ultimate truth and truly end the causes and effects of suffering? What can lead us to the meaning of "Du Lv" - the realm of annihilation? You can do this by practicing the true path. As revealed by the Hinayana and Mahayana paths of the sravakas, the true path is the wisdom of visualizing emptiness. This is the ultimate Dhamma. Realizing this wisdom in our hearts will lead us to the state of the truth of cessation. This true path is contained in the "duttaraya" that liberates us from the eight kinds of fear. The word liberation indirectly means the true path. As I have just explained, the third word "dule" frees us from the real disease--defilement.

 

In summary, by taking refuge in Tara and practicing Tara practices, such as reciting the Tara mantra, and by practicing the path contained in this mantra, you can achieve the four kayas of Buddhahood, which are the cessation or liberation of two obstacles. realm. To put it simply, "Om Taret Lie Du Taret Stud" means "I salute the liberated one, the mother of all victors." Tara is the victor or mother of all buddhas. Why are the Buddhas called victors? Because they defeated the second obstacle.

 

----Khenpo Sodarji

Manjushri Bodhisattva is the collection of wisdom of all Buddhas, Guanyin Bodhisattva is the collection of great compassion of all Buddhas, and Tara is the collection of the undertakings of all Buddhas. What are the careers of the Buddhas? One is to remove the suffering of all living beings, and the other is to place all living beings in peace and happiness. Tara does have special abilities in these areas. No matter what kind of person you are, as long as you believe in Tara, pray to her respectfully and recite her mantras regularly, you will definitely receive her blessings.

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