འཕགས་མ་སྒྲལ་མ་འཇགས་པ་བརྒྱད་ལས་སྐྱབ་པའ་མད intro: 84000's introduction
Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers intro
- Language
- English
84000's introduction
intro.1
In this sūtra, the goddess Tārā warns the gods of the desire realm about the miseries of saṃsāra and offers a pithy Dharma teaching to free them from harm. Tārā begins by vividly portraying the various kinds of suffering endured by beings in each of the six realms of saṃsāra and then points out the futility of reciting mantras without maintaining pure conduct. She goes on to encourage the listeners to engage in virtue, which puts an end to saṃsāra, and she bestows on them a dhāraṇī that will help them to achieve this goal, a praise of her qualities, and a request for her divine protection that they should recite. Finally, she enjoins the audience to read and practice the teaching and share it with others.
intro.2
While the Buddha is dwelling on top of Mount Meru, along with the goddess Tārā and an assembly of gods, Tārā warns the divine gathering about the various kinds of suffering endured by beings in each of the six realms of saṃsāra. She explains that the fate of each being is the result of past negative actions and that virtuous conduct is the only way to avoid suffering in the future. Tārā describes the path to liberation using a series of evocative metaphors and also offers a sacred dhāraṇī as a means to help others achieve liberation from saṃsāra. She also outlines for recitation a praise of her myriad qualities, in particular of her ability to protect beings from the eight dangers. Finally, she encourages the audience to read, practice, and share this teaching widely.
intro.3
The sūtra can be divided into three sections: (1) a concise teaching given by Tārā on the suffering of saṃsāra and the virtuous practices that will eradicate such suffering and lead to fortunate states; (2) a dhāraṇī that practitioners can employ as a method for advancing toward liberation;¹ and (3) a praise to be recited to Tārā. In this third section, Tārā is praised as an awakened protectress² and requested to keep those who petition her safe from the eight dangers. These dangers are identified in this text as lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, waters, infectious diseases, and demons. These final verses, in which Tārā’s ability to protect beings from the eight dangers is described, are thus what lend the text its title.³
intro.4
There is to our knowledge no extant Sanskrit version of this sūtra, nor is there a Chinese version recorded in the Taishō Buddhist Canon. It is also not found in the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) or Phangthangma (’phang thang ma) Tibetan imperial translation inventories. The translation has no colophon, so we do not know who the translators were, nor do we have knowledge of any other circumstances surrounding the translation into Tibetan.⁴
intro.5
The text has previously been introduced and translated into English by Martin Willson.⁵ The English translation presented here is based on the Tibetan version in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Lhasa Kangyur edition.