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PREFACE PREFACE

Marcia Dechen Wangmo

I am delighted to present The Tara Compendium, Feminine Principles Discovered, the second book in the Three Roots series of lama, yidam, and dakini. Normally, the second book concerns yidam practice, the source of accomplishment. Yet, paradoxically, this book is about Tara, who often gets categorized under the dakini section of the Three Roots, as per Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s advice for my own practice. To complicate things, Adeu Rinpoche teaches on Tara as yidam, and in the preliminaries for the Drölma Zabtik cycle, she is the lama. So how does all of this fit together in a neat sequential package? It does not, because all of the Three Roots are interchangeable; each can be a lama, yidam, or dakini. It is only our childish minds that want to limit their capacities, conforming them to our narrow constraints. Thinley Norbu Rinpoche clarifies this for us here:

The nature of all buddhas is the meditation deity; there is no distinction. Meditation deity is the embodiment of all lamas, yidams, and dakinis. Until enlightenment, never separate your mind from awareness of the meditation deity, which is the nature of the Buddha, the nature of your own mind.¹

In essence, all deities are the same. If we realize one deity, whether imagined as lama, yidam, or dakini, we realize all of them. We need to trust this, even though we harbor preferences based on our karmic links and proclivities. Connecting with the positive qualities of the deity, we see them mirrored in ourselves and can easily relate to them. Our inherent familiarity with these qualities drew us to this training in the first place. We create an amazing energy field around ourselves, by setting the environment as sacred and by also viewing ourselves as sacred. Trungpa Rinpoche summarizes this sense of sacredness and well-being:

You begin to develop affinity with a particular buddha principle … that is associated with your basic being…. The deities represent your energy rather than being external entities…. Your own basic beingness is discovered in an enlightened form…. You identify with such principles … [which] is realization of sacredness of the universe and of yourself…. This approach of Vajrayana Buddhism to sacredness … is a matter of truth.²

Tara has so many beautiful qualities, many of which are the most special strengths of the feminine. These are not merely stereotypical characteristics of being soft and graceful. Read the Twenty-One Praises of Tara, and you’ll see she has a lot of kick-ass force within her. Her power to nurture, care for, and protect us—combined with her ability to honor, love, and heal—are qualities I identify as feminine, without making a big separation between masculine and feminine, which should always be viewed as a unity.

Tara practice allows us to accomplish many different activities. In fact, she is the activity aspect of the lotus family in many of the practices included in The Compendium. Lotus energy includes magnetizing, inspiring, creating, and joyfully fulfilling positive things as the activity aspect. Tara translates all the wonderful lotus energy into action.

Throughout the pages of this book, we can discover how to apply the sublime methods of development and completion stage practices to benefit others and ourselves. We can learn how to soften and open ourselves, making our minds more malleable and loving. We can unlock this more creative, harmonious, and sublime energy when we do Tara practice, enabling us to heal others and ourselves. Engaging in this practice, we change our self-image. Progressively, we begin to embody this sacred energy, which we are here calling Tara. Ultimately, in accomplishing this practice, we become inseparable from Tara and her enlightened activity.

On a practical level, we are changing how we act and how our brain functions. From the moment we start to apply Tara practice, we begin to activate her sublime healing capacity. We are especially motivated to help close loved ones who are suffering, whether they are emotionally stressed, are ill and dying, or have been abused. We do not want to wait until we are enlightened to help them. Tara practice gives us the means to begin benefitting them and others the moment we apply it.

I had two primary reasons for compiling and completing the translations in this book: I wished to present a complete cycle of practice based on Noble Tara, and I wanted to propose various other Tara practices, to strike the distinctive dispositions of those wishing to follow Tara. The Drölma Zabtik, The Profound Essence of Tara, is a collection of teachings encompassing the entire path to enlightenment, from Hinayana to Dzogchen. It includes instructions on the preliminaries; bodhichitta; outer, inner, and secret sadhanas of Vajrayana; as well as channels, essences, and wind-prana practices for inner heat and the third empowerment. Replete with commentaries by classical masters, such as Jamgön Kongtrül Rinpoche, The Tara Compendium also has explanations on how to connect these practices with our modern-day lives. Adeu Rinpoche’s recent pith instructions will especially appeal to those practitioners who prefer the simplicity of Dzogchen. I have also included practices from other lineages, either in full or as references in the source materials, as an indication of the vast array of available and translated practices of Noble Tara.

So what are the feminine principles discovered? I have alluded to several of them in this introduction, but you have the opportunity to uncover them in this book—which you’ll find accessible, inspiring, and well worth the effort. You will discover even more joy and amazement in entering into these practices in a committed way. I have had that experience, and I have been grateful and awestruck every single day since Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche first introduced me to Tara. What incredible fortune to meet her and try to emulate her. Perhaps one day we will be able to discuss with her directly, as Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s grandmother Konchok Paldren did. I can only aspire for us all to attain this realization of Noble Tara.

I would like to express my many thanks to all those who helped me complete this book: to the translator of most of these pieces, Erik Pema Kunsang; to other translators, the most venerable Sean Price, the pandit Mattia Salvini, Ani Laura, and Zack Beer, who helped by checking and correcting; to Graham Sunstein for supplying photos; to the Terton Sogyal Trust for use of the Chimey Phagma Nyingtik image; to my versatile editor, Anne Paniagua; to Michael Tweed for providing earlier edits; to my constant designer, Joan Olson; to the glorious cover creator, Maryann Lipaj, who always gets it perfect; to my dedicated proofreaders, Lynn Schroeder and Michael Yockey; and of course to Richard Gere and Mollie Rodriguez of the Gere Foundation for providing invaluable support and patronage. Through the blessings of Tara, may everyone who comes in contact with this book be freed from all fears and obstacles, and may each and every one be placed in the noble state of Arya Tara!

Completed at the Tara Pure Realm of Nagi Hermitage, Nepal, on the twenty-fifth day of the eleventh lunar month in the year of the Wood Horse (01.15.2015) by Marcia Dechen Wangmo. May it be auspicious and may all countless beings benefit.