“Tāre [means] She who liberates from the cycle of worldly existence, Tuttāre [means She] who liberates from [the suffering caused by] the eight dangers, Ture [means She] who quickly liberates from illness, [Svāhā means] Salutations to Mother Tārā.” In this way she is praised. Now I shall express a short history of the Venerable Tārā, the single mother of all the Conquerors and the excellent object of praise. Formerly, in beginningless time, in the world realm called “Manifold Light,” there arose the Tathāgata Lord called Dundubhīśvara, Sound of the Drum. Also living there was the king’s daughter called Jñānacandrā, Moon of Wisdom,1006 who greatly revered the Tathāgata’s discourse. There, she worshipped the Buddha, together with his retinue — an infinite community of Śrāvakas and Bodhisattvas — for hundreds of millions of years. Every day she made offerings equal in value to the amount of jewels that would completely fill twelve miles in each of the ten directions. Not a single space remained unfilled. Then, she generated the Thought of Enlightenment, which is the generation of the foremost thought. At that time, the monks implored her, “If you aspire to serve the teachings of the Buddha, due to your own roots of virtue, you will be transformed into a man in this very life. In order for it to turn out that way, it is proper to do so accordingly. . . .” After a dialogue with them, the king’s daughter said, “There is neither man nor woman, Nor self, nor personhood, nor notion of such, Attachment to [the designations] ‘male’ and ‘female’ is meaningless, and Deludes worldly people with poor understanding.” Having said that, she vowed, “Many desire enlightenment in the body of a man, But not a single [person] strives for The benefit of beings in the body of a woman, Therefore, I shall work for the benefit of beings In a woman’s form as long as saṃsāra is not emptied.” Then, for hundreds of thousands of millions of aeons, she lived in the palace of that king, meditating with one-pointed concentration on the qualities of the five objects of desire and practicing skillful means. Having done this, she became tolerant of [the notion that] all phenomena (dharma) are unborn, and she perfected the concentration called “Liberating All Beings.” Thereafter, through the power of that perfected concentration, she liberated trillions of sentient beings from worldly thoughts every day at dawn. As long as they were not firmly tolerant [of the notion that phenomena are unborn], she did not eat any food. And every day in the evening she would also establish as many [in tolerance of that notion]. Having changed her former name, she became known as Tārā. Then, the Tathāgata Dundubhiśvara prophesized, “As long as you manifest unexcelled enlightenment, you will be solely addressed by the name ‘Goddess Tārā.’” In the aeon called “Extensive Awakening,” in the presence of Tathāgata Amoghasiddhi, she vowed to guard and protect sentient beings in every vast region in the ten directions from danger. Having become equipoised in the concentration called “Destroying all Māras,” every day for ninety-five aeons, she established trillions of the most excellent beings in meditation, and every sunset, she subdued trillions of Māras who master others by means of illusion. For this reason, she was associated with the names of Savioress, The Firm One, the Quick One, and Heroine. Then, in the aeon called “Unobstructed,” the monk called Radiance of Stainless Light was initiated with the light rays of great compassion of all the Tathāgatas in the ten directions. This same [monk] became the Noble Avalokiteśvara. At that time, through the initiation of great rays of light by the five families of Tathāgatas, etc., all the Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas, as before, he became the embodiment of superior wisdom. Through blending the former and latter light rays, which had become like father and mother, Goddess Tārā appeared, born from the heart of Avalokiteśvara, fulfilling the intention of all the Buddhas, and working to protect all sentient beings from the eight great dangers and the sixteen [dangers]. Then, in the aeon named “Very Auspicious,” she is shown to arise from the mode of steady respiration. Then, in the aeon called “Unimpeded” (asaṅga), having been initiated by all the Tathāgatas in the ten directions, she became the Mother who gave birth to all the Buddhas. These, as before, are from beginningless time. Then, in this very aeon, in the midst of innumerable and infinite Buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas, nāgas, yakṣas, etc., on Mount Potala, Noble Avalokiteśvara proclaimed the ten-million [-verse] Tārā Tantra. He said and did the same in the Kṛta yuga for the purpose of sentient beings of the six destinies. In the Tretā yuga, the former [text] had disappeared, but the 600,000 [-verse Tārā Tantra] appeared. In the Dvāpara yuga, the former [text] had disappeared, and the 12,000 [-verse Tārā Tantra]appeared. Then, in the age of Quarreling, the Tārā’s One Thousand Verse Collection appeared. The [following] is from the Lama’s oral teachings. “Although the tantric books from the aeons of the Kṛta yuga, etc., no longer exist [here on the earth], they are used extensively in the vast regions of the devas and vidyādharas where they are considered to have been of great benefit for all other beings. However, it is not contradictory [to say] that disciples of the mantra[yāna] existed in [other] times [when there were no tantric teachings on the earth], and it is possible that there were also [tantric] books. On the other hand, an assertion like that is not necessarily verifiable. It is also said that these distinguished tantras were recited again by our Teacher, [the Buddha]. That is based upon [a quote from] the explanatory tantra of this same [Tārā tantra] called The Secret Essence of the Ḍākinīs (Ḍākinī-guhya-bindu), which states, “On the peak of Mount Potala, the [Tārā] tantra was spoken by Śākyasiṃha, the Lion of the Śākya clan.” This is her legend, handed down orally, as follows. The same Teacher, [Śākyamuni Buddha], having agreed to teach sentient beings the deeds of awakening, became seated on the mount of enlightenment, [emitted] rays of light from the space between his eyebrows, and permeated every place of Māra. When the armies of Māra approached, Tārā laughed eight times and all of them are said to have fallen on the ground senseless. Then, the Teacher [Buddha Śākyamuni] transformed himself into [the wrathful form of] Krodhācala, the One of Steady Wrath, and conquered Māra with the concentration “Crushing all Māras.” Moreover, when he became manifestly, fully enlightened on the seat of enlightenment and reached a non-dual state with Tathāgata Akṣobhya, Goddess Tārā worshipped him and [the Buddha] promulgated her tantra at length. In this way, he gave extensive instructions on the maṇḍalas of the six Buddha families. And, in order that the explanatory tantras did not disappear, he wished to teach them to sentient beings of the six destinies of beings. The Buddha, together with a multitude of bodhisattvas, went to Mount Potala and initiated innumerable and countless living beings including devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, etc. Having explained the Mantrayāna [to them], he established the success [of their practices]. Finally, he bestowed the tantras to Vajrapāṇi who practiced them in the Vidyādhara abodes such as Alakāvati, etc. And, in order that all the tantras would not disappear in the world of human beings, Vajrapāṇi became King Indrabhuti, wrote down all the tantras in books, and hid them in the Dharmakośa, the Treasury of Dharma teachings. It is said that they were practiced by heroes and female ascetics. In general, the Mantrayāna is shown to have six divisions, among which is the Heruka Teaching. The arrangement of these six divisions occurs in tantra literature itself. As for this particular teaching, how did the Tārā tantra arise in Jambudvīpa? It was about three hundred years after the Conqueror’s nirvāṇā, and sometime after the Third Council had already been held by the Śrāvakas, when most of the Mahāyāna scriptures that existed in the abodes of the devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharavas, and rākṣasas, finally arrived in the various different lands of India. When the self-arisen books had appeared and simultaneously spread, the exponents of these [books], who were disciplined Dharma speakers, also appeared: i.e., five hundred Yogācāra monks and the eight great proponents [of the Madhyamaka School] who maintained that all phenomena (and natures) are devoid of an intrinsic essence. They were all tolerant of the notion that all phenomena (dharma) are unborn and they saw the faces of Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, and Maitreya, etc. At the same time that those [teachers appeared], the three [divisions of] Kriyā, Caryā, and Yoga Tantras spread together along with all sorts of Wisdom and Means Tantras of the Anuttara vehicle. It is also said that those [teachers] who saw the faces of Vajrasattva and Guhyapati also taught fortunate [disciples,] among whom there was not even one [disciple] who did not attain perfection, after hearing [the teachings of] the mantra path (mantrayāna).