Introduction
i.1For Tibetan Buddhists, the Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage is undoubtedly the most popular prayer to the deity Tārā. It is recited on a daily basis by many monks, nuns, and lay practitioners alike. The first twenty-one verses praise Tārā by drawing upon the three epithets that also form the core of her root mantra—Tārā (Deliverer), Tuttārā (Savior), and Turā (Swift One). In doing so, they invoke Tārā’s twenty-one forms that vary in aspect from peaceful to wrathful. These twenty-one verses both pay homage to Tārā and provide a poetic description of her physical features, postures, qualities, abilities, mantras, and hand gestures. The concluding six verses of the liturgy describe how and when the praise should be recited and the benefits of its recitation.
i.1對於藏傳佛教徒而言，《度母二十一禮讚》無疑是對度母菩薩最受歡迎的祈禱文。許多僧侶、尼姑和在家修行者都每日誦持這部經文。前二十一個偈頌通過引用三個稱號來讚美度母，這三個稱號也構成了她的根本真言的核心——度母（救度者）、救度母（救世者）和速度母（迅捷者）。通過這樣的方式，他們呼喚度母的二十一種形態，這些形態的相貌從寂靜相到忿怒相各不相同。這二十一個偈頌既向度母頂禮致敬，也以詩意的方式描述了她的身相特徵、手印姿態、殊勝功德、神通能力、真言和手勢。禮儀的最後六個偈頌描述了應該如何誦持和何時誦持這部讚禮文，以及誦持它的利益。
i.2The praise has been preserved in the Kangyur in two forms. First, the praise was translated into Tibetan and preserved as an independent text in the Kangyur (Toh 438). It is this text that we present in English translation here. Second, it is also found in transliterated Sanskrit as part of the larger tantra The Tantra on the Origin of All Rites of Tārā, Mother of All the Tathāgatas (Toh 726). In this tantra, the Buddha reveals the praise in the form of an incantation (dhāraṇī), a circumstance that prompted the Tibetan translators to transliterate the Sanskrit text of the praise rather than translate it into Tibetan. The relationship between these two versions in the Kangyur is not clear. The colophons to some Kangyur editions suggest that the Tibetan translation (Toh 438) was prepared based on the transliterated Sanskrit, but this is disputed by the Tibetan commentator Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216), who mentions that the praise was transmitted from India and translated as an independent text.
i.2讚頌已被保存在甘珠爾中的兩種形式。首先，讚頌被翻譯成藏文，並在甘珠爾中保存為獨立文本（Toh 438）。我們在這裡呈現的英文翻譯就是基於這個文本。其次，它也以音譯梵文的形式出現在更大的密教著作《一切如來之母度母儀軌源起密教》（Toh 726）中。在這部密教中，佛陀以陀羅尼的形式揭示了讚頌，這種情況促使藏文翻譯者將梵文讚頌進行音譯，而不是將其翻譯成藏文。甘珠爾中這兩個版本之間的關係並不清楚。一些甘珠爾版本的跋文表明，藏文翻譯（Toh 438）是基於音譯梵文準備的，但這一點受到藏文評論家傑尊札巴嘉參（1147–1216）的質疑。他提到讚頌是從印度傳來的，並作為獨立文本被翻譯的。
i.3Regarding the Indian commentarial literature on the praise, there are seven related texts preserved in the Degé Tengyur. These comprise two sādhanas attributed to Nāgārjuna (Toh 1683–84) as well as two sādhanas (Toh 1685–86) and three commentaries attributed to Sūryagupta (Toh 1687–89). Sūryagupta’s commentaries, rather than explaining the meaning of the words in the praise, focus on the iconography of each of Tārā’s twenty-one forms, describing her color, seat, posture, number of faces and arms, implements, and hand gestures. In Tibet, many scholars composed a variety of commentaries and sādhanas related to this praise.
i.3關於對度母讚文的印度註疏文獻，德格丹珠爾中保存了七部相關的文本。這些包括兩部歸屬於龍樹的成就法（編號1683–84），以及兩部成就法（編號1685–86）和三部歸屬於日光護的註疏（編號1687–89）。日光護的註疏並不是解釋讚文中詞語的含義，而是著重於度母二十一種形象的圖像學，描述她的膚色、座位、姿態、面臂的數量、法器和手印。在西藏，許多學者撰寫了與這部讚文相關的各種註疏和成就法。
i.4This translation has been prepared based on the Degé Kangyur with reference to the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur. We also consulted the Sanskrit editions prepared by de Blonay (1895), Pandey (1984), Willson (1996), and Wayman (2002). The interested reader may also wish to compare our translation to some of the other published translations of the praise in English.
i.4本翻譯基於德格甘珠爾，參考了對比版（dpe bsdur ma）和斯托克宮甘珠爾。我們還查閱了德布洛瑪（1895年）、潘迪（1984年）、威爾遜（1996年）和韋曼（2002年）編訂的梵文版本。感興趣的讀者也可以將本翻譯與其他已發表的英文度母讚誦翻譯進行比較。