Archive Result

;;;Soundfile 20041107GRSOPBWT1/20041128GRNLPWWT1

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location Netherlands

Topic Tara Blessing

Transcriber Sally Tittmann

Date January 28, 2022

(Dutch Intro)

First of all, welcome to everyone, especially to people who are here for the first time. Today it’s an unofficial opening of the new building, and it was not announced as such, but Rimpoche is holding a Tara Blessing as an unofficial ceremony. Rimpoche has a special connection with Tara, and you can read more about it in this little booklet that he has written about it. After the blessing, which should take about an hour — possibly longer, because of the translation — we’ll have a break, and after the break, Francis is going to conduct an interview with Rimpoche about Buddhism in the West. If you have any questions about this for Rimpoche, please pass them on to Frances during the break so that she can incorporate them into the questions that she’s going t ask.

GR

Thank you very much, and hello, everybody, and welcome to today’s wonderful ceremony here. So, in this Tara Blessing, what’s going to happen is four things. Number one, I will briefly introduce you to Tara. Number two, a guided visualization and meditation on healing. Number three, mantra transmission and mantra chanting. Number four, the other ways of utilizing Tara’s energy.

03:15.2

[DT]

GR

Now, to introduce Tara, first you have to know who Tara is. Tara is a female buddha. You may be thinking, when you say “buddha,” buddha I know. It is the person from India, 2600 years ago. So, but there are female buddhas, there are male buddhas. So Tara is a female buddha. And she is just like a buddha. She was also a human being named Yeshe Dawa, and she exactly did the same thing as you will read in Buddha’s life story. She had committed herself, and she had generated wonderful compassion, caring thoughts, and she committed herself to work for the benefit of all beings, and she had taken her vows. I will follow afterwards.

[DT]

GR

And we are talking in Indian culture, 2600 years ago, and Tara especially chose to remain as a female. She took a vow that she will remain as a female. What she did is first develop what we call bodhimind, or the ultimate, unconditioned love, in female form. She had contemplated every efforts of purifying, and collecting great karma, etc., everything done in female form. And finally, she became a buddha, also in the female form. And after becoming buddha, she worked and served, helped as a female, in a female physical form, to all beings. Thus I call her the feminine principle in Tibetan buddhism.

0:07:57.3

[DT]

GR

And you think she is fully enlightened buddha, and why didn’t we hear much about her, till today. Why are you raising it today? There are important reasons why today. Because her energy is extremely helpful, especially today. Because we are in the society that really and equally men, woman. It is supposed to be equal! I don’t know whether you get equal pay here. In the United States, you don’t. You get paid, I don’t know, 20% less, or whatever, but it is supposed to be equal. And equality is the principle of the democracy. And with all these reasons, you are supposed to be equal. And, feminine energy is extremely helpful, kind, gentle, loving, like motherly energy. So that’s why her energy is especially helpful today.

[DT]

0:11:05.0

GR

Then people may think, if I’m connected with Tara, then well, I’m sort of going away from a god, or I’m going away from whoever. You may think that. But my understanding, and what I’m sure of, is that the connection with Tara is the connection with the divine beings.

[DT]

It is our mind that will divide. It is our rational mind that will say, whatever, we are male, we are female. It is our rational mind that we say, we are Caucasion, you are Asian. It is our mind that will divide between black and white, or, in America, between blue and red states. It is our mind that will divide. But, in the divine beings don’t have that division of black and white. I hope not!

[DT]

It is our human mind that really divides things. Me and my ego, and my territory. It is so much, me, me is the business of human mind. But the divine beings are truly oneness, and truly united. It is one connection with one divine being is a connection with the divine beings. There is no separate boxes in the pure lands, or the divine lands, what we as human beings. I don’t know much here in Europe, but in America, the system is, we must make sure: you are Christian, you are Buddhist, you are Hindus, and you are Muslims, and you are put in the separate boxes, and you label them, and then we say, “The situation is under control.”

0:14:38.9

[DT]

GR

So, the divine beings don’t have that division. How do we know? We call her Tara. But in Tibetan we don’t call her Tara. We call her Dolma. Tara is a Sanskrit name. You go to China. They call her neither Tara nor Drolma. They call her Kuan Yin, or Kuan Yin Pusa, or Kuan Si Yin Pusa. YOu go to Japan, and they call her neither Kuan Yin nor Tara. They call her Canon. So, all of those clearly indicates that it is how they function. There is no big separation. So, the Tara, Drolma, Kuan Yin, Canon, have functioned for millions of people, like the Mother Mary has functioned for so many people, as we know.

0:16:42.1

[DT]

GR

Now that should be enough for the introduction of Tara.

But I also have to tell you slightly what this Tara Blessing is all about. The Tara Blessing is true to the tradition of Tara, yet it is true to the tradition of the Tara teachings and initiations, yet we don’t want it to be an initiation where you have a lot of commitments, vow-taking, and things like that, and so some people may not be interested in that level, so therefore we are taking advantage of her kindness and her compassion, to work with people without having any commitment of a. being a buddhist, and b. practice and practitioner, whatever, and c. to be able to build a connection, strengthening connection to the divine beings, and d. there are many other activities, healing, protection from fear, all of those, and I would like to have the door open for you. And, e. it is Tibet’s gift, of really 1,000 years locked and sealed in, but we would like to present open, in everywhere, without having commitment and vows, heavy vows, but sort of open, wonderful, you get all the benefits, that’s why this Tara blessing is true to the tradition, yet designed for that way.

0:19:54.2

[DT]

GR

And I say it is Tibet’s gift. It is not something somebody has made up a new story. It is very solid, deep, wonderful, very solid spiritual practice that the Tibetans used for thousands of years. That’s what we are presenting in simple, easy, straightforward way.

[DT]

GR

Now is the time for me to introduce Tara meditation to you.

This would be a guided visualization.

In the is space in front of you, open, beautiful, spacious, Tara sit, on a thousand petal lotus cushion. Beautiful, youthful, happy, joyful, loving, White Tara. And looking to all beings, and particularly us.

0:23:35.1

As you can see in the drawing, she has three eyes, including the wisdom eye. You may not see in the drawing now, but she also has four more eyes, in both palms of her hands and feet. Which is seven eyes. When you are looking at her, her right hand is open, putting down, giving a gesture of invitation, inviting all of us, and particularly those of us who don’t have help, who needs help, who need protection, inviting them, saying, “Join me,” and her left hand rises three fingers up, representing buddha, dharma and sangha, which means the message of protection.

[DT]

GR

So her hand gesture, telling us, inviting us, and particularly those of us who need help the most, and telling us, “Don’t feel bad. Join me, and I will protect you and help you.” This is the total message of her hand gestures.

[DT]

0:26:35.7

GR

And that is wonderful Tara you have. And that is your Tara, because you visualize her, and you built her, and it is your Tara. And even if it’s not very clear to you, physical aspects of Tara, that is fine, just simply have a divine representative in front of you.

[DT]

GR

Although I have mentioned Tara, but if you wanted to have any other divine beings, it will also serve the purpose. There you have it. That’s your Tara. That’s your own. You can create it any time you want to.

Next will be, what do we do with this? The White Tara has so many special ways of helping, particularly healing, and protection from fear, etc.

[DT]

0:29:08.4

GR

OK, can you relax a minute from the meditation, and I will talk to you about the healing.

When we were talking about healling, we are talking about two, or maybe three kinds of healing. Healing of physical, mental, and emotional. Physical is our physical body, which is really made out of 4 elements. Our bones and flesh are earth element, liquid in our body is the water element, heat and digestive power, etc., are fire element, and circulation is the air element.

[DT]

When the power of these elements are not balanced in our body, we are sick. So what we do, through your meditative power, with the support and help of Tara, and we restore the strength and energy of the elements in our body.

0:32:03.5

[DT]

GR:

So, another brief meditation please.

So we are still focussing on Tara, and your building, your prayer to Tara, and Tara hears you, heard you, and she radiates tremendous amount of powerful lights from her body, it goes all over every existing universe. From these universes, the power and strength of elements, such as all earth elements, are yellow light form.

[DT]

GR:

Water elements are in milk-like white light. All fire elements are bright orange-red, like a Chinese red, colored light. All movement power, the power of air, all of them are collected in the form of green light. Thus the rainbow-colored lights, from Tara and from the sources of all elements, dissolve to our body, reach to our body, touch and dissolve to us, thus our weaknesses and lack of strength , etc., of all elements are rejuvenated.

0:35:39.2

[DT]

GR

Thank you.

You can meditate this all by yourself, or you can meditate this while chanting the mantra as well.

Now, before I introduce you to the third step, the mantra transmission and the mantra chanting, I would like to explain to you a little bit what mantra is all about.

Basically, the word mantra means “mind protection.” The purpose of the mantra will give you the materials, things that you meditate, and overcome your emotional difficulties, such as negative thoughts, negative emotions. The individual is protected from that, that’s why it means mind protection.

[DT]

0:38:32.2

GR

The unhealthy emotional, or the emotional not straight or right, which means our emotions are taking over our mind, such as hatred, obsession, jealousy, etc, when it is taking over the mind, what the person completely, we call this emotionally. Not correct, or sick, or not healthy.

[DT]

GR:

And such negative emotions, like hatred, obsession, all of them are born out of fear and confusion-oriented ego, ignorance. And you heal yourself by application of love and compassion, wisdom, and blessing and support of all divine sources.

[DT]

And there’s Tara mantra. We start with OM, which is representing body, mind, speech.

0:40:52.4

GR:

TARE TUTTARE TURE and this gives the message of the four noble truths of the buddha: the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of cessation, and the truth of the path that leads to that cessation, is the four noble truths, the total essence of all Buddha’s teachings.

[DT]

And SOHA will mean, “lay the foundation.” Connect your body, mind, speech. Lay the foundation for purity within my body, mind, speech, or, at least, “my body, mind and speech will build connection with your body-mind-speech.”

0:42:42.4

So, that is basically what the Tara mantra is all about. And one can’t really be very effective with the mantra unless you have the mantra transmission. The transmission here is really the transmission. It is from the original source of Tara until now, until my late masters. It has been transmitted from human being to human being, and here I would like to present you this Tara mantra transmission. Which really means you hear the mantra that I have been going to say it three times.

[DT]

So do kindly listen to this sound, thinking, “this is the transmission of Tara mantra.”

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA. OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA. OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA.

With this transmission, has been done, but we would also like to chant the Tara mantra together, and while meditating, visualizing, healing, or protection from the fears. There are 8 different forms of fear, how to protect those, and many other detail has been given in that booklet in the Tara box behind the Tara image. However I cannot do this in detail, because of the time limit. I did it very briefly, and when you receive this transmission and you learn about this, then you can practice anytime, anywhere. We will be chanting the mantra, but when you are alone, you can say it, or chant it, whatever you want to do.

0:46:20.2

[DT]

Now Onmi(?) is going to lead the chant, so we will all join together, so for a short period of chanting the Tara mantra, maybe 27 or so.

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA [chanting]

0:52:13.7

After this mantra, it is time for the actual Tara Blessing. The Blessing is that I will make a strong request to Tara, to give blessings to us, and our families, and our circle, and environment, inhabitants, everything, and particularly, calling on Tara, you have a tremendous, unlimited power, and that power may protect us, help us, guide us, give us the wisdom, give us whatever is needed to be, at this moment, this place, this minute, and I’ll chant the mantra again, so this is going to be the Tara Blessing, but I’ll be saying it in Tibetan.

[Rimpoche chants, rings bells…]

This is the Tara blessing, and now the other ways of utilizing the Tara energy, and as of course, the easiest for everybody to pray to Tara, and with saying this mantra, with this mantra recitation, and praying, and if you do this, there are always answers. For the very simple reason: all the enlightened beings, as I said earlier, they generated bodhimind at first to help and serve, and as what buddhists call it, to liberate those who are not liberated. Those who are unable to breathe, to be able to breathe easily, and those who have no freedom, they will be able to be free. Like this, they have a commitment. All the enlightened beings are working for this, for us, all the time. What the Tibetans, what the old Tibetan texts say: the divine compassion hook has been swinging all over us all the time, to be able to lift us, to deliver us, but we have never provided the ring of the faith. If we open it up, the divine hook will hook, and lift us up. So, praying, saying mantras, meditating, not only what I shared with you about the rainbow, but there is a detailed meditation on this, and there are protection realms, from the different obstacles, there are protections from the eight fears, quite a number of them are mentioned in the booklet in the Tara box, but there are more, many more. Apparently, in the next year, 2005’s summer retreat, in Michigan, is totally going to be dedicated to this Tara thing. If you want to go, you do have courses here, you do have teachers here, teaching, and Jewel Heart provides this, and if you still want to go, and make it more, strengthening, and stronger, and also at the same time have a holiday, you are welcome to come to Michigan. That is in June.

1:01:20.3

[DT]

GR

And then, as I said earlier, there was going to be an introduction to Tara, a guided visualization on healing, mantra transmission and mantra chanting, and other ways of utilizing Tara energy, all completed.

It is wonderful to have a Tara Blessing as an unofficial opening ceremony. It is very appropriate and very wonderful. We are going to conclude with chanting the Four Immeasurables.

And thank you very much!

[chanting of Four Immeasurables]