The Tara Compendium. Chokgyur Lingpa
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The tantra of the indestructible vajra nada,
The inexpressible basis of all expression,
Which manifested in response to the aspirations of those to be tamed.
THE EXCELLENCE OF THE BEGINNING
The explanation of these instructions has three sections: the excellence of the beginning, the instructions that are the stepping stones for the path; the excellence of the middle, instructions for the root of the path; and the excellence of the end, instructions for the main part of the path and the conclusion.
The Instructions That Are the Stepping Stones for the Path
This refers to the path for individuals of lesser and medium capacity, who authentically practice faith and renunciation connected to the vehicles of the truly high states of gods and humans and the states of definite goodness, shravakas and pratyekabuddhas.
This has two parts: the preliminaries for a session and the preliminaries for the teachings.
The Preliminaries for a Session
In a solitary place, free from the thorns of meditative distractions, give up all kinds of deluded activities connected to the three doors of body, speech, and mind. Sit down on a comfortable seat with crossed legs and a straight back. Exhale the stale breath three times.
Then simply relax the mind undistractedly. With vivid mindfulness, imagine that in the sky in front of you, seated upon a lotus flower and moon disc, is your own root guru in the form of Noble Tara, the embodiment of all objects of refuge. With intense devotion and trust make the following supplication:
“Embodiment of all the Buddhas of the three times, Glorious Guru, Sublime and Noble Tara, indivisible, I supplicate you. Please bestow your blessings upon me. Please totally pacify all the stains of incorrect thinking. Please allow true realization to dawn in my mind. Please eliminate every hindrance to accomplishing the teachings of the Mahayana.”
Then imagine that the guru enters through the crown of your head and remains within the dome of light in your heart center. You then dedicate the virtue, saying, “By these roots of virtue, may I attain the precious state of perfect enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.”
This sequence should be done at the beginning of all the meditation sessions taught below.
The Preliminaries for the Teachings
There are two sections here as well: the instructions for individuals of lesser capacity and the instructions for individuals of middling capacity and for the general trainings.
THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS OF LESSER CAPACITY
This has reflections on five aspects: the difficulty of obtaining the freedoms and riches; death and impermanence; the sufferings of the lower realms; the causes and consequences of karmic actions; and going for refuge.
1. The difficulty of obtaining the freedoms and riches
At the beginning of each session, repeat the session preliminaries, as explained above.
Carefully examine your home, body, and possessions, thinking, “This human body that I have presently, which is the foundation of everything to come, is extremely difficult to attain. Therefore, I will not let it go to waste. I will devote this precious human rebirth to the dharma.” Make this kind of resolve in a sincere way from the core of your heart.
The Buddha said in the White Lotus of Compassion Sutra, the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra:
It is extremely difficult to be reborn as a human being
And even more difficult to attain the perfect freedoms.
It is difficult for the Buddha to appear in the world, and
It is difficult to have the determination to practice the virtuous dharma.
It is difficult to make the perfect aspirations to achieve this.
Thus it is said.
The support of a precious human body is extremely difficult to attain, in terms of its having the eight freedoms, the opposite of the eight unfree states. It is also extremely difficult to attain the ten extraordinary riches.
1 To be a hell being, who experiences incessant suffering from heat and cold;
2 To be a hungry ghost, who is constantly scorched by the flames of hunger and thirst;
3 To be an animal, mute and stupid;
4 To be a long-lived god, who is distracted by sense pleasures and samadhi and, thus, has no time to persevere in dharma practice;
5 To be a barbarian, a class of humans born in a border land with the mindset of an animal;
6 To have wrong views, lacking trust in the cause and effect of virtue and misdeeds, in the higher realms, and in liberation;
7 To be born in a world where the Buddha has never appeared; and
8 To have impaired faculties, rendering you mute and stupid and unable to discriminate between good and bad.
One possesses the eight freedoms if one is not subject to these eight unfree states.
1 In general, to be a human being;
2 In particular, to be a human being born in a place where the buddhadharma is present;
3 To have unimpaired faculties and basic intelligence;
4 To have an unmistaken livelihood, meaning that you do not have wrong views or engage in the five misdeeds with immediate retribution and the like; and
5 To have trust in the virtuous phenomena, the buddhadharma.
1 The Buddha has appeared in your world,
2 The Buddha has taught the sublime dharma,
3 These dharma teachings are still accessible,
4 Many are still practicing the sublime dharma, and
5 Dharma teachers still provide conducive circumstances to spiritual practitioners.
If you posess all eight freedoms and ten riches, then you have what is known as a precious human body. Just like a wish-fulfilling jewel, once obtained, you must not let it go to waste; rather, exert yourself in every way possible in the dharma.
It is also difficult to obtain these freedoms and riches, as measured by numbers. Hell-beings are equal in amount to the number of atoms on the earth. Hungry ghosts are equal in amount to the number of snowflakes