The prologue to a dramatization of the life-story of the revered woman
known as Nangsa Obum usually contains the tale of Tara. The reason
for this association is:
In the province of Tibet called Tsang lived a devoted man and his wife.
Every
single day, with no thought of worldly gain, they would sing the praises to Tara
and in the evening, do 100,000 repetitions of her mantra. One night the
woman,
Nyantsa Sedron, had the following dream:
- In the Holy Realm of Turquoise Leaves
- from above a jeweled throne of blazing conch-white leaves,
- from the syllable TAM in the heart of Tara
- (mother of the Conquerors.
- mother of the Buddhas of the three times, protector from all terrors)
- light radiated forth. It entered through the top of my head,
- it traveled down the central channel, I dreamed
- that it dissolved in the center of my heart.
- In my body a lotus flower grew,
- I dreamed that dakinis made offerings to its stem.
- From all directions there gathered a host of bees;
- I dreamed they were satiated with its nectar. . . . .
Her husband Kunzang Dechen, tells her [and us] that her dream means
that Tara will incarnate into their family for the lotus will grow:
- . . . into the foremost of all dakinis.
- The gathering of a host of bees from all directions
- and their finding a promised treasure of nectar
- are signs that she will serve the aims of beings,
- all the hosts, pure and impure, whom she will take in hand
- with body, speech, and mind.
and so in their old age a daughter was born to them in the
Year of the Earth Male Horse.
~ Stephen Beyer.
The Cult of Tara:
Magic and Ritual in Tibet, 57.
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