Notes

n.1Tārā’s name is a causative derivation from the root √tṝ (“to cross”), meaning “to cause to cross,” i.e., “to rescue.”

n.2In her PhD dissertation, Rachael Stevens (2010) provides a comprehensive introduction to the goddess Tārā via a literary review (pp. 11–21) and an exploration of the history of Tārā worship (pp. 20–45), the Tārā pantheon (pp. 46–56) and key Buddhist texts relating to Tārā (pp. 57–62).

n.3Beyer 1978, pp. 5–6. We find this episode in Butön Rinchen Drup’s History of Buddhism (Obermiller 1932, vol. 2, p. 184) and dramatized in Sonam Gyaltsen’s The Clear Mirror (Sonam Gyaltsen 1996, pp. 124–27).

n.4The Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) catalog of early translations, for example, lists only two works dedicated to Tārā that were translated during this time. Following Herrmann-Pfandt’s edition (2008), these are no. 439: ’phags pa lha mo sgrol ma’i mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad pa ( Tāra­devī­nāmāṣṭa­śataka , Toh 728) and no. 454: ’phags pa lha mo sgrol ma ’jigs pa thams cad las sgrol bar bstod pa (according to Herrmann-Pfandt, the identification of this title remains uncertain). One could further include no. 388: ’phags pa spyan ras gzigs kyi yum (Avalokiteśvara­mātā­dhāraṇī, The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of Avalokiteśvara” ), which, while it does not mention the goddess Tārā, was nevertheless included within the Degé Kangyur section of Tārā-related scriptures (Toh 724–731) as Toh 725.

n.5Beyer 1978, pp. 5–13; Landesman 2008, p. 59; Stevens 2010, pp. 36–37.

n.6Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 1002 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 1002, note 6, for details.

n.7Butön Rinchen Drup, gsung ’bum, folio 218.b.6–7.

n.8For the Sanskrit text, see sādhana no. 108 in Bhattacharyya 1925.

n.9Bhattacharyya 1925, p. 221.

n.10Here we follow the reading padme padme from the Sādhana­mālā instead of the Tibetan padmani padma.

n.11The text has been emended to the genitive form of the term bhagavat to align syntactically with the following term tathāgatasya. Though this form is not attested in the available Tibetan witnesses, it is the implied syntax of the Sanskrit compound bhagavattathāgataº attested in the Sādhana­mālā.

n.12As indicated by the inserted Tibetan term che ge mo, the reciter is instructed here to insert the name of the person to whom this dhāraṇī is directed.

n.13We follow the reading of the Sādhana­mālā, bhagavati, instead of the Degé reading bhagavate.

n.14This can be tentatively translated as “Oṁ. Tārā! Hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ to Tārā. She who is firm in her samaya! Bear it! Bear it! She who is adorned with all ornaments! Lotus! Lotus! She who sits on a great lotus seat! Laugh! Laugh! Granter of boons to the three worlds! She who is worshiped by devas and dānavas! Recollect! Tārā, Blessed Lady! Recollect! Uphold, uphold the samaya in front of the blessed Thus-Gone One! O great deity who surveys all beings everywhere! She who is ornamented with various jewels and gold! Oṁ! Tārā, Blessed Lady, look upon (insert name), Hrīṁ hrīṁ hrīṁ svāhā!”