Prayer to Tara, Dispeller of the Eight Fears – Translation Workbook (3rd ed., 2025)

Description

Selections from the Praise to Tara of the Acacia Forest, Dispeller of the Eight Fears – Translation Workbook (3rd ed., 2025)

This translation workbook focuses a selection of materials from The Crown Ornament of the Wise, Praise to the Venerable Bhagavati, Tara, Lady of the Acacia Forest, a text written by the great 15th century master Gendun Drupa who posthumously became known as the First Dalai Lama. The original work is often referred to in Tibetan by its shortened title legs dris ma.

Tara is known as She That Saves from the Eight Great Fears. Gendun Drupa’s approach here is enlightening, bringing out the twofold nature of the fears—their outer aspect of lions, elephants, and so on, and their inner aspect, that is, the mental defilements or kleshas. Enjoy reading and translating these verses from the tantric dimension of Tibetan Buddhism.

This student-friendly workbook contains

• Parsing Tables and Translation Worksheets
• English Translation
• Tibetan and English
• Tibetan text to practice spelling and reading
• Verbs in Dictionary Order
• Common Abbreviations
• Further reading suggestions and bibliography

We at TLI are delighted to make available this workbook, an expanded 3rd edition of the previous TLI reader based on the legs bris ma. While the 2015 edition only included verses 20-27 (the section on the 8 fears), this new edition now includes the title, homage, a verse with the visualization of the deity, and the colophon. With the addition of these new materials, students now have the opportunity not only to deepen their relationship with Tara, one of the most beloved deities in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, but also to become familiar with some of the classical structural features of tantric literature.