NEW TRANSLATION: “FIVE-DEITY TĀRĀ” OF FIRST KARMAPA. An introductory commentary on the origin, general and specific traditions and lineage of five-deity Tārā and a new sādhana composed by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (2025)

“Shortly before escaping to India, I managed to complete a count recitation retreat of White Tārā at Tsurphu Monastery seat, as practised by the previous Gyalwang [Karmapas]. On the day of completing the retreat, an artist from a foreign country arrived, and gave me a thangka painting of Tārā, which I considered to be an auspicious sign and good omen. Later, upon arriving in India, I received from the great protector Vajradhara [12^th] Tai Situ Padma Nyinje Wangpo all the empowerments and permissions for both the peaceful and wrathful deities and protectors through the Knowing One Liberates All approach of the Ninth Karmapa. Within this, I also correctly received the empowerment for the Five-Deity Tārā Practice of 1^st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.” –17th Karmapa (Five-Deity Tārā Sādhana, 2025)

“In front, yellow Marici (Ozer Chenma).  On the right, dark-blue Ekajaṭī (Rel-chigma). On the left, green Jāṅgulī (Dugselma); and behind, yellow Mahāmāyūrī (Maja Chenmo).” –9^th Karmapa’s arrangement of the four deity retinue of the main green Tārā

Today, for the third day of the Tibetan New Year (Losar) am happy to freely offer the first English translation of the first two main sections of a newly composed text called Acacia Tree (Sengdeng Nagki) Five-Deity Tāra Mandala Practice, which Dispels All Obstacles and Spontaneously Fulfills All Desires: Youthful Blossom of Precious Turquoise (སེང་ལྡེང་ནགས་ཀྱི་སྒྲོལ་མ་ལྷ་ལྔའི་སྒྲུབ་དཀྱིལ་བར་ཆད་ཀུན་སེལ་འདོད་དོན་ལྷུན་འགྲུབ་རིན་ཆེན་གཡུ་ཡི་ལྗོན་པ་རྒྱས་པའི་ལང་ཚོ་), a commentary and explanation of a new Five-Deity Noble Tārā extensive sādhana, composed in Tibetan by the 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.  The e-book was published at the end of January 2025, and (interestingly) the front cover is a computerised reproduction of a White (not Green) Tārā painting by the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje.

This first English translation of that new text, freely downloadable as pdf here: Five deity Green Tara practice 1st Karmapa by 17th Karmapa -is of the first two main sections (out of three) of General and Specific Explanations of various Five-Deity Tārā traditions (Arya Nagarjuna, Chandragomin, and other traditions, such as Bari Lotsāwa, Patsab Lotsāwa and Yarlung Lotsāwa, citing sources such a Je Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, in particular the Translator Vairocanavajra (12th C) tradition of the five-deity Tārā passed down to the 1^st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.   [For more on the translator (the ‘mercury drinker’ Ngul-chu) Vairocanavajra, whose version of the five-deity Tāra that came down to him from Arya Nāgārjuna to 1st Karmapa, read this teaching transcript of the 17th Karmapa in 2023, here.]  Below here is a translated contents outline and brief overview of these two main sections of the text.

In sum, as a piece of original research on not only the origin of the five- deity Tārā by the 1^st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, but the Tārā practice traditions in general, the 17^th Karmapa’s new composition is unique in terms of its breadth and originality. I am not aware of any other major Tibetan Buddhist lineage teacher/head who has produced such work.   What is clear is that the “five sets of five deities” by the 1^st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, is a unique practice and heritage of the Karma Kagyu and Tibetan Buddhism in general, and one which the 17th Karmapa seems particularly keen to preserve.

For images, with excerpts from the 17th Karmapa’s explanations of the four deities of the Green Tārā deity retinue, see the Facebook post here.

As for my own background and connection to this text, I personally received the empowerment of five-deity Tārā of 1^st Karmapa from 12^th Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche in 2020, at Palchen Choling Monastery, Ralang, Sikkim, during his bestowal of  9^th Karmapa’s Knowing One Liberates All empowerments there. I recently received it again from Gyaltsab Rinpoche at a public empowerment in Bodh Gaya, India on 8^th February 2025.

The extensive explanation section of the actual practice section of the text has yet to be translated, but if I have time, I will do so! I am currently travelling on pilgrimage, so not so easy to do it, but my wish was that this translation would be of interest and of benefit to the Kagyu lineage and teachings, to the Gyalwang Karmapa’s heritage and legacy and his followers.

I finished the translation a week ago, and joyfully did it freely in my own time, without any scholarly support or funding. However, I thought it would be better to publish it after the Tibetan New Year. I am confident it is correct for the most part, but apologies if there any minor errors in words or meaning, and please correct if so!

To accompany this new translation, I have also made a video and music composition, with myself on vocals, and images of Green Tāra see Youtube video here.

Translated and compiled by Adele Tomlin in Bodh Gaya, India on 22nd February 2025 (published 2nd March 2025).

Five-Deity Tāra Introduction by 17th Karmapa: Contents Outline

 

• Translator’s Introduction.
• Homage and Introduction.

A) Explanation of the different sadhana traditions.

1. General Explanation of the Five-Deity Tārā Traditions.
   • Five-Deity Green Tārā Tradition.
   • Five-Deity Wrathful Tārā Tradition.
   • Five-Deity White Tārā Tradition.
2. Specific Explanations of various traditions of the Five-Deity Tārā.
   • Tradition of Ārya Nāgārjuna.
   • Tradition of Chandragomin.
   • Other traditions.
3. Detailed Explanation of the Five-Deity Green Tārā System according to Vairocana.

• • Describing the origins of the retinue.
  • Showing the different colours and hand implements of the deities.
  • Explaining the different methods of arrangement.
  • Resolving doubts.

B) Establishing the relevant lineage for this occasion.

Colophon/conclusion.

Translator’s Overview/Summary

In the text’s introduction on the Dharma E-books website it says:

“The Indian master Ārya Nāgārjuna is like the source of all the teachings of Jetsun Tārā. It is said that the five-deity Tārā known as his heart’s practice, were transmitted from the great Indian master Ngulchu Vairocana to the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.   Thus, the five-deity Tārā is widely known as the  Five Deities Tārā among the five sets of Dusum Khyenpa’s heart’s practice. It is so important that the Gelugpas, Sakyapas, and scholars of other traditions have also listened to and accepted it, and have allowed it to be included in their compilations of sadhanas.

However, due to various internal and external circumstances, the teachings of the Kagyu lineage have become very rare. Kyabje Yongzin Trijang Rinpoche states in his autobiography that he asked some of the Karma Kamtsang followers what the five sets of the five heart practices of Dusum Khyenpa were, but no answer given.”

Three Main sections of the text

The 17^th Karmapa first sets out three main sections of the text:

1. Explanation of the different sadhana traditions (སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་ཀྱི་ལུགས་མི་འདྲ་བ་རྣམས་སྨོས་པ་)
2. Establishing the relevant lineage for this occasion, (སྐབས་སུ་བབ་པའི་བརྒྱུད་པ་འགོད་པ།) and
3. Explaining the actual stages of practice (ཉམས་སུ་ལེན་པའི་རིམ་པ་དངོས་བཤད་པ་)

This translation is of 1) and 2). The final part 3) of the text is an extensive actual explanation of the practice and words of the sadhana practice itself,  which I have not had time to translate.

In the first section on General Explanation of the different Tārā sādhana traditions,  the 17th Karmapa considers the traditions of Five-Deity Wrathful Tārā Tradition, and Five-Deity White Tārā Tradition (and Five-Deity Green Tārā after that).

Interestingly, the 17^th Karmapa explains that the five-deity White Tārā tradition, is the actual five-deity of the Acacia Forest as practised by the 1^st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.

“White Tārā as the principal deity, Green Tārā of Activities in front, Yellow Tārā of Qualities to the right, Blue Tārā of Wisdom/Mind behind, and Red Tārā of Power to the left.   The description of the visualization of these five deities is given in detail.  In the colophon it says, in relation to the phrase “the yidam of the Lord Dusum Khyenpa”, that Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche added a footnote to this identifying it as one of the “five sets of five.”

Thus, this well-known Five-Deity Tārā of Dusum Khyenpa’s spiritual practice is itself the Five-Deity Tārā of the Acacia Forest is stated extremely clearly in Dusum Khyenpa’s collected works; as well as in writings by Je Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa[i], the Ninth Karmapa, and other relevant literary sources.”

The 17^th Karmapa then explains the traditions of five-deity Tārā in India that came into Tibet and also explains that this five-deity Tāra of the 1^st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa is based on the tradition of Ṭārā from Arya Nāgārjuna.

Specific explanations of Five-deity Tārā and Detailed Explanation of the Five-Deity Green Tārā System according to the translator, Vairocana

This general explanation is then followed by specific explanations of various traditions of the Five-Deity Tārā: Tradition of Ārya Nāgārjuna, Chandragomin and Other traditions (such as Bari Lotsāwa, Patsab Lotsāwa and Yarlung Lotsāwa).

The final part of the first explanatory section on the different Tārā traditions, is a detailed explanation of the Five-Deity Green Tārā System according to the translator, Vairocana:

• Describing the origins of the retinue
• Showing the different colours and hand implements of the deities
• Explaining the different methods of arrangement
• Resolving doubts

In this section, the Karmapa explains how in some traditions, the four deities are arranged on the left and right of the main deity. In others, they are arranged in the four cardinal directions. In conclusion, the 17^th Karmapa states that the deities should be arranged according to the latter in accordance with:

“Precious Garland of Practice Methods for Peaceful Yidam Deities[ii] by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje,  which states: “In front, Marici (Ozer Chenma).  On the right, Ekajaṭī  (Rel-chigma). On the left, Jāṅgulī (Dugselma). Behind is Mahāmāyūrī (Maja Chenmo).”

Relevant Lineage for this practice

The second main section [of the three main sections] of the text is on the relevant lineage for this practice. The 17^th Karmapa lists the lineage of the five-deity Tār̥ā practice  from Tārā, to Nagarjuna, to the translator Vairocanavajra to 1^st Karmapa onwards, and his own practice of White Tārā and five-deity Tāra lineage transmission came down from 12^th Tai Situpa and 12^th Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche. Interestingly it did not pass through

Colophon

In the colophon of the new 2025 text, the 17^th Karmapa explains his own personal connection to the Tārā deity, and the circumstances and reasons for composing this text, completed on the 4^th January 2025 (the fifth day of the first month of the Wood Dragon year when the two planets were in a good conjunction):

“In general, I am someone whose attainment of the deity’s blessings, the warmth of experiential realization, and the breadth of knowledge of both sutras and tantras are as rare as hairs on a tortoise. I fear that attempting to compose rituals of the profound Secret Mantra would likely incur the fault of profaning the Dharma.  However, due to the fragility/scarcity of the teachings and oral instructions of this lineage, I have no choice but to take on the responsibility of preserving, maintaining, and spreading them. It has become like the situation where a donkey has to keep the time when there is no bird [to do so]. May the noble beings forgive me.

In particular, I recall that when I was a child, all the members of my family, led by my parents, always recited the Twenty-One Praises to Tārā as part of their evening recitations. At that time, I had nothing but a child’s perspective, yet it seems that from around that time onwards, I developed a faith that followed after this renowned deity.

Shortly before escaping to India, I managed to complete a count recitation retreat of White Tārā at Tsurphu Monastery seat, as practised by the previous Gyalwang [Karmapas]. On the day of completing the retreat, an artist from a foreign country arrived, and gave me a thangka painting of Tārā, which I considered to be an auspicious sign and good omen.

Later, upon arriving in India, I received from the great protector Vajradhara [12^th] Tai Situ Padma Nyinje Wangpo all the empowerments and permissions for both the peaceful and wrathful garlands through the Knowing One Liberates All approach of the Ninth Karmapa. Within this, I also properly received the empowerment for the Five-Deity Tārā Practice of 1^st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.

From the great Goshir Drakpa Gyaltsen, the regent of the Victorious One and secret lord Vajradhara, I joyfully received many empowerments and permissions, including those for the Five-Deity Tārā.

In brief, even though I have not even a hundredth part of a horse-hair of the qualities of abandonment and realization in my mind-stream, due to being lovingly cared for by the gurus and supreme deities, I have the inestimable fortune of enjoying the glory of the profound Vajrayana.”

APPENDIX
Reasons for composition: restoring a lost (yet important) Karma Kagyu tradition (2022 teaching)

This need for preservation of the tradition was also spoken about in February 2022, when the 17^th Karmapa gave a brief teaching on the five-deity Tārā practice of the 1^st Karmapa, and unveiled his new sadhana composition:

“If I give a brief introduction to this five-deity Tārā practice, it was passed from Nagarjuna down to Vairocana the Translator from Tibet and to 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. He had five sets of five-deity practices, the five-deity Cakrasaṁvara, five-deity Hayagriva, five-deity Vajravarāhi, five-deity Hevajra and five-deity Tārā. A few days ago, in the Kagyu Guncho we did the five-deity Hayagrīva which was possibly practised up to the time of the 10^th Karmapa. Since then, this is the first time it has been practised with a large group of sangha together.

In particular, in the Karma Kamtsang we have a tradition of practising the five-deity Cakrasaṁvara and Varāhi, those two are still with us, the but the practices of five-deity Tārā, five-deity Hevajra and five-deity Hayagriva, are almost totally lost. It is difficult to even hear the words mentioned of them. As I explained the other day, when the lamas from other lineages ask Karma Kamtsang monks who the five deities of Dusum Khyenpa, they are they are unable to answer. This is the situation we are in, so this is a time when those five sets of five-deity practices have declined.

So, today we have the five-deity Tārā and I was very busy with this. ….We will recite all the ritual, however I did not really get time to interpret and write notes and comments for the ritual….Perhaps, in the future, we will also recite this ritual during the spring teachings with the nuns. In that way, we can do the full practice of it. At that point, I will give the transmission of it then. Today, we will do it just to make a connection with it.”

 Endnotes

[i] Pawo Tsuglag Threngwa ( དཔའ་བོ་གཙུག་ལག་ཕྲེང་བ 1504–1566), the second Nenang Pawo, was a Tibetan Buddhist master of Karma Kagyu. He was a disciple of Mikyö Dorje, 8th Karmapa and was the author of the famous Scholar’s Feast (mkhas pa’i dga’ ston) addressing history of Buddhism in India and its spread in Tibet, as well as the history of Tibet.