This is a guided meditation on one of the aspects of Tara,
The female Buddha of enlightened activity,
Practiced throughout the Indo-Tibetan tradition of Buddhism.
This specific form is one of the 21 Taras as taught in the Atisha tradition.
The Tibetan name of this specific Tara is Rimni Salvejrolma or Tara dispelling infectious diseases.
The reason we would normally be doing this practice is never to replace proper precaution or proper medical attention.
Those things are essential.
This practice is done in order to strengthen our aspiration for goodness,
Our wisdom and compassion and also to generate volitional causes or karma that will bring about greater good for ourselves and others.
To begin the actual practice,
We take a comfortable stationary position and bring our attention into our body.
Noticing the vast variety of sensations arising and dissolving,
We ground ourselves by breathing naturally and gently rocking on the waves of our breath.
Then we turn towards the foundational attitudes of refuge and bodhicitta.
To take refuge,
We entrust ourselves to the three aspects of awakened reality.
The awakened mind of all the Buddhas,
Which includes our own awakened potential,
The liberating truths of the Dharma and the realized companionship of the Sangha.
Feeling their protection and guidance,
We generate bodhicitta,
An aspiration to become fully awakened for the sake of all sentient beings,
In order to liberate them through love and compassion.
On a more immediate level,
We are doing this practice in order to bring about the interdependence that will heal all beings and establish systems of healing,
Safety and peace for everyone.
We imagine that out of the state of voidness imbued with compassion,
Instantly appears Tara that dispels the infectious diseases.
Her body,
Made of transcendental light,
Is orange in color,
And she is sitting on a lotus flower and a moon disc lying flat.
Just like the more famous green Tara,
She is sitting with her right leg extended and her left leg drawn in.
Her right hand is on her right knee,
Holding a vase with healing nectar.
And her left hand,
At the level of her heart,
Is doing the mudra of refuge and holding the stem of an Utpala flower,
Which is blooming next to her left ear.
Her face,
In particular,
Is deeply loving and compassionate,
As she is looking at us and all sentient beings around us.
Uniting her gaze,
We deeply feel that she knows everything there is to know about us,
And still accepts us with deepest love and compassion,
With infinite desire to guide us,
Heal us,
And protect us,
Until we ourselves become awakened.
In order to create positive interdependence and purify our mind,
We practice the seven constructive mental actions,
Collectively known as the Seven Limb Practice or Seven Limb Prayer.
First we think of all the positive qualities that Tara represents,
Her love,
Wisdom,
And power.
And we bow to all of these qualities with our body,
Speech,
And mind,
Aspiring to find and awaken the same qualities in ourselves and all beings.
Then as the Second Limb,
We imagine clouds of offerings,
All the beautiful objects we can think of,
And mentally offer all of these to Tara,
Imagining that she happily accepts them with great bliss.
As the Third Limb,
We then think of all the destructive compulsions or karmic imprints that we have created in our mind through unskillful intentions and actions of the past.
Only wishing to purify these imprints,
We lay them bare before Tara,
Openly confess them,
And feel that her radiant rays of love and compassion purify us.
For the Fourth Limb,
We rejoice in all the positive actions of beings,
Including our own practice right now,
And the heroic work of everyone in this world that embodies the altruistic spirit of Bodhisattvas,
The spirit of love and compassion.
We want to liberate our minds by practicing the correct teachings on awakening,
And so as the Fifth Limb,
We request Tara to continuously teach us throughout the three times.
Seeing that she accepts our request,
We generate a strong intention to put her teachings into practice.
With a wish to never be separated from the compassionate,
Wise guides,
For the Sixth Limb,
We ask Tara to never leave us alone and continuously manifest as the skillful masters,
The skillful guides in our life.
For the Seventh Limb,
All of these positive imprints we dedicate to the full awakening of all beings and their complete freedom from suffering.
On the basis of this connection building,
We turn to the activity aspect of Orange Tara.
In her heart,
We imagine the essence of her wisdom and love as the shining seed syllable TAM surrounded by the circle of Tara's mantra.
From this seed syllable and from the vase in Tara's hand,
Numerous peaceful emanations of Tara come forth,
Showering this soothing rain of compassion and love on each and every being.
Through this pacifying activity,
All the disease and causes of disease are pacified.
The sicknesses and the suffering of all beings are dispelled.
At the same time,
Fierce emanations also come forth,
Expelling all the sources of harm and chasing them away so they can never return again.
Everything that endangers beings or prevents them from being effectively healed,
Including our own negative karma and afflictions,
Is forever banished.
All beings are being healed and brought to full awakening.
And just and effective systems of compassionate activity naturally arise throughout the earth.
With this visualization of peaceful and fierce activities for the benefit of all beings,
We can simply abide in the feeling of love,
Compassion and gratitude,
Or we can also chant the unique mantra of this form of Tara.
Om Tare Tuttare Ture Visaratasvaha.
I will say the mantra a few times and then you can either continue maintaining the visualization or continue the recitation on your own.
Om Tare Tuttare Ture Visaratasvaha.
Continue with the visualization and recitation for some time,
Maintaining the spirit of love and the wisdom of emptiness and interdependence.
Om Tare Tuttare Ture Visaratasvaha.
Om Tare Tuttare Ture Visaratasvaha.
Om Tare Tuttare Ture Visaratasvaha.
As we conclude the recitation process,
We mentally request Tara to grant us and all beings both the common attainments and the supreme attainment of awakening.
In response,
We see Tara blessing our body,
Speech and mind with rays of light coming from her heart.
Then she comes to our crown and dissolves into us,
And we ourselves dissolve into emptiness imbued with compassion,
And simply rest there.
Out of that emptiness come the thoughts of compassion and love as we dedicate the practice.
Due to this virtue,
May I soon attain the awakened state of Noble Tara,
That I may be able to liberate all sentient beings from their suffering.
May all sentient beings be healed.
May they be forever free from suffering and disease.
May they always have complete access to free and efficient systems of health care and healing.
And may they be healed not only of their physical suffering,
But of all the afflictions of the mind,
Especially greed,
Aversion,
And self-grasping.
By giving Tara's compassionate action and her name into our day,
We conclude this formal practice by inviting the bell.
