co.

Table of Contents

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Practice Manual of Noble Tārā Kurukullā is the most comprehensive single work on the female Buddhist deity Kurukullā. It is also the only canonical scripture to focus on this deity. The text’s importance is therefore commensurate with the importance of the goddess herself, who is the chief Buddhist deity of magnetizing, in particular the magnetizing which takes the form of enthrallment.

The text is a treasury of ritual practices connected with enthrallment and similar magical acts‍—practices which range from formal sādhana to traditional homa ritual, and to magical methods involving herbs, minerals, etc. The text’s varied contents are presented as a multi-layered blend of the apotropaic and the soteriological, as well as the practical and the philosophical, where these complementary opposites combine together into a genuinely spiritual Buddhist work.

ac.

Acknowledgments

ac.­1

Translation by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee.

Translated by Thomas Doctor from the Tibetan of the Degé Kangyur, with continuous reference to an English translation and critical edition of the extant Sanskrit manuscripts by Wieslaw Mical. English text edited by Gillian Parrish.

This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Text Body

The Translation
The Practice Manual of Noble Tārā Kurukullā
2.

Chapter 2

2.­1
Through the method of worship in accordance with the Dharma,
One will attain dharmatā
And oneself will become the dharmadhātu.
That shall now be correctly explained.7
2.­2

Now follows the practice method of the wish-fulfilling tree:

One should visualize, arising from the syllable vṛm,8
A wish-fulfilling tree.
As a transformation of the utpala,
It should be visualized to the left.
2.­3
A rain of various riches
Falls from the middle of the sky,
And so fulfills wishes and desires.
The one who meditates like this becomes the Lord of Wealth.
2.­4
The sentient beings of the four continents
One must summon through light rays of the mind
And so generously provide them
With the gifts that consist of the seven jewels:
2.­5
The jewel of the foremost teacher,
The jewel born from the sea,
The jewel of a woman, the jewel of a horse,
The jewel of a sword,
2.­6
The jewel of an elephant‍—such jewels
Should be offered mentally to the buddhas.
The jewel of a woman, adorned with ornaments
And displaying abundant attractions, [F.32.a]
2.­7
Should always be offered to the buddhas
By those who wish for the fruit of buddhahood.
Through this all buddhas
And knowledge holders will be achieved.
2.­8
Replete with his treasures,
A foremost teacher, a lord of wealth,
Should be offered to the buddhas
2.­9
By those who wish for the fruit of buddhahood.
When likewise the other jewels
Are respectfully surrendered
One will turn into Vajradharma
And so become the benefactor of all beings.

This was the practice method of the wish-fulfilling tree.


2.­10
All the buddhas are mind itself.
By mind itself one is liberated.
Bondage is broken by the mind,
Through mind one attains freedom.
2.­11
Apart from in the mind
Things and entities are not seen anywhere at all.
Hence, there is no perfection to be seen
Apart from buddhahood and all the accomplishments.
2.­12
The environments and sentient beings,
The elements and their derivatives,
Have been declared to be “mind only”
By those who possess the undefiled special vision.
2.­13
Therefore, one should make every effort
To cleanse the mirror of the mind.
Faults, which are by nature extrinsic,
Will gradually be utterly exhausted.
2.­14
From the first of the vowels
Arises a stainless full moon.
Meditating on mind itself as that moon,
One places upon it the seed-syllable:
2.­15
The fourth in the sibilant group
Is positioned atop the syllable of fire,
Joined with the syllable ī,
And adorned with the two skies.
2.­16
A multicolored light from that
Cleanses beings of their impurities,
And turns this billionfold world, and other such universes, into the field of space.
Having entered the Kurukullā mountain
2.­17
It rouses Tārā, and as she is summoned,
She is made to be present before oneself.
The wise must then from the syllable
Send forth a great cloud of offerings:
2.­18
Flowers, incense, and lamps;
Perfume, food, and the like;
Gestures, garlands,
Theatrical shows, songs, and other such offerings.
2.­19
“The three jewels are my refuge;
I confess all my wrongdoings;
I rejoice [F.32.b] in the virtues of wandering beings;
I set my mind on the enlightenment of a buddha”‍—
2.­20
These words should be spoken three times,
After which one requests departure.
When the mind has been made to abide through love,
It should again be placed there.
2.­21
Having engendered a mind of compassion,
One should as well bring forth a mind of joy.
Afterward, one should regard everything with equanimity
In its condition of being “mind only.”
2.­22
Then, in order to discard the ordinary,
The mind must once more be emptied.
The five aggregates of the process of reexistence
Shall be consumed by the fire of emptiness.

Oṃ śūnyatā­jñāna­vajra­svabhāvātmako ˈham.9

2.­23
For a while one should practice this emptiness yoga
And so bring the mind refreshing rest.
Recollecting the vows taken earlier,
One should once more focus on simply the seed-syllable.
2.­24
“An exclusive nirvāṇa
Would mean deceiving sentient beings.
How shall I liberate them
From the endless ocean of existence?”
2.­25
Contemplating thus, the one who possesses love
Will abandon the emptiness devoid of mind.
A mind that is of the nature of the field of phenomena
Must be brought forth through mind itself.
2.­26
By the Buddha’s blessing arises the seed-syllable,
And from that, that which is called an utpala.
On the utpala, there is a moon disk
Arisen from the syllable a.
2.­27
On that moon, again, is the seed-syllable,
From which emanate rays of light.
Thereby all realms of the world
Are seen to be thoroughly purified.
2.­28
Once they are purified and illumined,
One should perceive that great numbers of buddhas
Melt into light and enter the seed-syllable.
From that arises Tārā.
2.­29
As explained, the goddess is of the color of madder rose
And adorned with all of the ornaments.
First one should develop the samaya form
And then summon the wisdom circle.
2.­30
This occurs in an instant.
The wisdom circle remains in front.
With the application of the samaya seal
They should enter by the open pathway.
2.­31
The palms of the hands are joined
And the two little fingers visualized.
The middle fingers are joined at the tips
And the ring fingers are between them. [F.33.a]
2.­32
The index fingers are joined to the middle ones
And the thumbs are bent below.
Having formed the samaya seal in this way
One must summon the circle and cause it to enter.
2.­33
With the following verses to the buddhas
One should request empowerment:
2.­34
“Just as Bodhivajra offers
The great worship to the buddhas,
So too, in order to protect me,
Please, now grant it to me, O Khavajra.”
2.­35
With the so-called “empowerment of the Victor”
Locanā and the other four arise.
2.­36
“The consecration of a king with flowers,
Great ones, bestow that upon me.”
2.­37
“The empowerment by the great vajra,
Which is venerated throughout the three realms,
And which originates from the abodes of three secrets,
That shall be given by all the buddhas.”
2.­38
As the buddhas empower Tārā
She becomes crowned with the Dharma.
2.­39
With red light of different hues
She illuminates the three worlds.
One who has obtained the jewel of empowerment
Will attain all accomplishments.
2.­40
By means of the described ritual
One must practice stably for half a year
And offer bali at the three times.
By means of this mantra,
2.­41
And through the ritual of cane or cakes,
One will obtain a sign during a dream.
The sword, the accomplishment of the netherworld,
Invisibility, the extraction of essences,
2.­42
Anonymity, celestial realms,
Foot unguent, and eye ointment‍—
The signs will be seen in dreams
And the accomplishments themselves will manifest.
2.­43
If one becomes fond of these,
Minor accomplishments will be attained through Tārā.
Having become a universal monarch, one attains
The kingdom and the pleasures of the senses.
2.­44
For the one endowed with meditation and recitation
These are even attained in dreams.
At the final moon among the six,
Recite delightedly for one night
2.­45
And form the utpala mudrā.
As one recites, it suddenly bursts into flames.
By the power of this mudrā
Brahma, Indra, Upendra, Rudra, and so forth,
2.­46
Together with their spouses,
Are summoned and arrive enthralled.
From then on, one will be accomplished in every respect [F.33.b]
And be free from the bonds of saṃsāra,
2.­47
Just as a lotus will be unstained
By water soiled with mud.
When touched, quicksilver becomes many,
Yet when coalesced, it once more becomes one;
2.­48
Within the state of omniscience
The same is the case with the accomplished one’s mind.
When touched by perfected quicksilver,
Copper turns to gold;
2.­49
Likewise, when touched by the perfected mantra,
Practitioners of mantra will become the bodies of the Buddha.
They attain the station of the lord of the gods
And become lords of the triple universe.
2.­50
When born in the family of the Buddha,
They become turners of the wheel.
They are born, go forth into homelessness,
Practice the difficult conduct,
2.­51
And as they also engage in the conduct of enlightenment,
They recollect buddhahood itself.
Likewise, they descend from the gods, manifest emanations,
Turn the wheel of Dharma,
2.­52
Attain the great nirvāṇa,
And depart for a cemetery.
Having left their bodies in the triple world,
The victorious ones, by means of the enjoyment body,
2.­53
Return again to the pure abodes,
And so the emanation body emerges.
By means of the procedures of books and paintings,
There is engagement with the dharma body as well.
Hence, the mantra, thereby established,
Has indeed been taught by the buddhas.
2.­54

All the blessed ones, the thus-gone ones, then addressed the great bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi, so as to examine his noble mind: “How, O Vajrapāṇi, could the buddhas, the blessed ones, who possess vajra bodies, who possess dharmadhātu bodies, possibly die at some location on earth?”

Vajrapāṇi, in turn, offered the following words to those buddhas and bodhisattvas: “The bodhisattvas have asked me this: ‘How could buddhas, who possess vajra bodies, dharmadhātu bodies, bodies of nonduality, possibly die at some location on earth?’ ” And he continued, “Listen, O bodhisattvas, the so-called nirvāṇa [F.34.a] means a passage to the realm of bliss.”

“O Vajrapāṇi,” inquired the bodhisattvas, “do the buddhas, the blessed ones, go to the realm of bliss after they relinquish the dharma body, or do they go to the realm of bliss by means of the enjoyment body, having left behind their emanation body? How could they depart, having left behind the dharma body?”

Vajrapāṇi replied, “A person with magical powers may employ magic for some specific purpose, and so also succeed in achieving that purpose. Likewise:

“Accomplished since the beginning,
The buddhas engage in the act of accepting birth,
To provide for sentient beings,
When a universal monarch has gone beyond.
2.­55
“When a buddha goes beyond,
A universal monarch appears.
In this world there is never a time
When both of them are absent.
2.­56
“The Buddha, the best among those who walk on two feet,
Provided guidance to beings in need of guidance.
After having remained for eighty years,
He departed for the abode of the victorious ones.
2.­57
“Having left behind their magical illusion of a buddha,
They remain in great bliss, which is the palace of the victorious ones;
Within the perfect peace of great bliss
They abide in a form that is in all ways delightful.
2.­58
“An agent, eternal and singular‍—
Thus the sages regard the mind.10
Yet it is taught that it is not of such an essence;
Rather, it is held to be composed of moments.
2.­59
“The victorious ones will relinquish their bodies
For those deluded because of holding on to a self,
And for those who always want things to be permanent,
So that they may be introduced to impermanence.
2.­60
“Those who are of the nature of all things,
And whose minds know everything,
Cannot definitively be said
To be absent anywhere.
2.­61
“Based on the relative truth,
And for those in this billionfold universe and elsewhere who are in need of guidance,
The buddhas teach the Dharma
Throughout the extent of space.
2.­62
“There is no real birth of a buddha,
Nor is there any real death of a buddha.
Where everything is of the same taste,
This is the nature of arising and ceasing.
2.­63
“The buddhas are of the same body within the dharmadhātu, [F.34.b]
And they are free of the five obscurations.
The body of the profound and the vast‍—
It is as the essence of this reality that a buddha remains.
2.­64
“Since neither is the case,
They do, from the beginning, not exist.
Since from the beginning they have not arisen
They do not arise and they do not cease.”
2.­65

The bodhisattvas asked, “How is it, O Vajrapāṇi, that the buddhas, the blessed ones, the teachers of the three worlds, neither arise nor cease?”

“Now, O bodhisattvas, what do you think?” asked Vajrapāṇi in return. “Does the one who is the Buddha exist, or not exist?”

“O Vajrapāṇi, buddhas neither exist nor do they not exist,” replied the bodhisattvas.

Vajrapāṇi then said:

“Indeed, it is the unborn that is born;
The born will never be born.
When investigated in terms of the ultimate
They are unborn since the beginning.
2.­66
“Likewise, the dead do not die,
Nor does the one who is not dead.
The nonabiding does not abide,
And the one who abides is not in need of abiding.
2.­67
“If that which has not been born were subject to decay,
Or if the unborn were subject to arising,
Then a rabbit’s horn would also
Be subject to arising and cessation.
2.­68
“If that which exists were to arise,
That which has arisen would arise once more.
Also, if that which does not exist were to arise,
The barren woman’s son would arise too.
2.­69
“Therefore, everything is ignorance,
Formations that possess the three characteristics.
The worlds that possess the five aggregates
Are known as mere appearance.
2.­70

“The bodhisattvas should understand the nirvāṇa that pertains to the buddhas, the blessed ones, through this reasoning.”


The bodhisattvas asked:

“When nothing is produced,
What are mantras, what are tantras,
And how does one visualize the maṇḍala?
How, then, is accomplishment gained?”
2.­71

Vajrapāṇi replied:

“Originating in dependence‍—
This is how things arise.
Likewise, depending on mantras, mudrās, and so forth,
The accomplishments are gained. [F.35.a]
2.­72
“The accomplishments are relative,
And so are the transcendences of the Buddha.
Buddhahood, the state of Vajrasattva,
Is perfectly accomplished in terms of the relative.”

This was the second chapter.

c.

Colophon

c.­1

The translation was prepared, edited, and established by the Indian preceptor, Kṛṣnapaṇḍita, and the lotsāwa monk, Tsültrim Gyalwa.

ab.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations (notes 1–22)
D Degé Kangyur
H Lhasa (zhol) Kangyur
K Kangxi Peking Kangyur
N Narthang Kangyur
Y Yongle Peking Kangyur

See Appendix Prologue for abbreviations in notes 23–900.

b.

Bibliography

The bibliography contains the publications that we have referred to as well as background reading on Kurukullā and Tārā in India and Tibet. Information on the Sanskrit manuscripts consulted is given at the beginning of the critical edition.


’phags ma sgrol ma ku ru kulle’i rtog pa (Ārya­tārā­kurukullā­kalpa). Toh. 437, Degé Kangyur, vol. 81 (rgyud ’bum, ca), folios 29.b–42.b.

’phags ma sgrol ma ku ru kulle’i rtog pa. Toh. 437, bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 81, pp. 127–69.

’phags ma sgrol ma ku ru kulle’i rtog pa. Stok 403. Stok Palace Kangyur (stog pho brang bris ma). Leh: smanrtsis shesrig dpemzod, 1975–80, vol. 95 (rgyud ’bum, nga), folios 316.b–435.a.

Bandurski, Frank (1994). Übersicht über die Göttinger Sammlung der von Rahula Sankrtyayana in Tibet aufgefundenen buddhistischen Sanskrit-Texte (Funde buddhistischer Sanskrit-Handschriften, III). (Sanskrit-Wörterbuch der buddhistischen Texte aus den Turfan-Funden: Beiheft ; 5). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994.

Bendall, Cecil. Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge, p. 178, 1992.

Beyer, Stephan. The Cult of Tārā: Magic and Ritual in Tibet. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.

Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh. The Indian Buddhist Iconography: mainly based on the Sādhanamālā and cognate Tāntric texts of rituals. 2nd edition. Calcutta: K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1958.

Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh, ed. The Sādhanamālā. 2nd edition. Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968.

Matsunami, Seiren (1965). A Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Tokyo University Library. Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation, 1965.

Mehta, R. N. “Kurukullā, Tārā and Vajreśī in Śrīpura.” In Tantric Buddhism: Centennial Tribute to Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, edited by N.N. Bhattacharyya. Reprint. New Delhi: Manohar, 2005.

Pandey, Janardan Shastri, ed. Kurukullā­kalpaḥ. Rare Buddhist Texts Series, 24. Sarnath, Varanasi: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 2001.

Shaw, Miranda Eberle. Buddhist Goddesses of India, ch. 22. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.

Snellgrove, David. The Hevajra Tantra: a critical study. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.

Willson, Martin. In Praise of Tārā: Songs to the Saviouress: source texts from India and Tibet on Buddhism’s great goddess, selected, translated, and introduced by Martin Willson. Boston, MA.: Wisdom Publications, 1996.

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84000. The Practice Manual of Noble ​Tārā​ Kurukullā​ (Ārya­tārā­kurukullā­kalpa, ’phags ma sgrol ma ku ru kul+le’i rtog pa, Toh 437). Translated by Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024. https://84000.co/translation/toh437/UT22084-081-006-chapter-2.Copy
84000. The Practice Manual of Noble ​Tārā​ Kurukullā​ (Ārya­tārā­kurukullā­kalpa, ’phags ma sgrol ma ku ru kul+le’i rtog pa, Toh 437). Translated by Dharmachakra Translation Committee, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024, 84000.co/translation/toh437/UT22084-081-006-chapter-2.Copy
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