དཔལ་ལྡན་འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་གི །
ཐུགས་རྗེའི་སྤྱན་གྱི་ཆབ་རྒྱུན་ལས་བྱུང་ཞིང༌། །
འགྲོ་ཀུན་བུ་ལྟར་བརྩེ་བའི་མ་གཅིག་པུ།།
གྲུ་འཛིན་རི་ཡི་མཛེས་མ་ཁྱོད་ལ་འདུད།།
She who emerged from the compassionate gaze
of the Lord of the Three Worlds (Avalokiteśvara),
Like a lone mother who loves all beings,
Beautiful lady of Potala Mountain, to you I bow.
“On the auspicious 9th day of the 2nd month of the Fire Horse Year (March 27, 2026), a harmonious conjunction of earth and water, this virtuous act was accomplished. By this merit, may all sentient beings connected to me by good or bad karma/action, always be cared and looked after by the form of Jetsunma [Tārā]. Ultimately, may it become a cause for easily attaining the exalted state of eternal immortality. Sarva Mangalam!” 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, excerpts from Utpala Flower Garland: Praise to White Tārā (tr. Tomlin)
INTRODUCTION
Today, am delighted to offer you a new translation of a brand-new composition by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, composed on 27th March 2026, and published on the 17th Karmapa’s Layjang Office Facebook page (4th April 2026), in Tibetan only. As there was no English translation with it, and I have a very strong karmic connection with White Tārā and 17th Karmapa, I decided to offer my English translation, with the Tibetan.
In brief, it is a stunning set of twelve verses, praising White Tārā with metaphorical allusions to her radiant moon-like beauty, divine Brahma speech that captivates those with fortunate ears, compassionate heart with fragraऱnt blue lotus (Utpala) flower, and stunning form that appears like a wish-fulfilling wheel bestowing all that is needed to sentient beings, whoever they are.
In the colophon, the 17th Karmapa explains that it was composed on 27th March 2026:
“This composition came about due to the persistent encouragement from Karma Samten, who possesses the jewel of faith, over many years. As well as the past recent few years of my own study on the profound teachings of Jetsunma [Tārā]. Moreover, I saw it as a great positive circumstance to compose a new prayer of inspiration of a life-stability aspiration and praise for White Tārā. After recalling the benefits and greatness of following the body, speech, mind of this supreme goddess, the humble one called Orgyen Trinley, the flower of the name/characteristics[i] of glorious Karmapa fell upon/touched his head.
On the auspicious 9th day of the 2nd month of the Fire Horse Year (March 27, 2026), a harmonious conjunction of earth and water, this virtuous act was accomplished. By this merit, may all sentient beings connected to me by good or bad karma/action, always be cared and looked after by the form of Jetsunma [Tārā]. Ultimately, may it become a cause for easily attaining the exalted state of eternal immortality. Sarva Mangalam!”
I picked out a cover for the translation pdf file (downloadable here: Uptala Flower Garland White Tara Praise 17th Karmapa), of White Tārā in deep lazuli blue, as a fitting tribute to the Utpala blue lotus flower, mentioned in its title.
The 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje recently gave a detailed description of the origin of the different Noble Tārā traditions in his new 2025 text on the Karma Kamtsang Four Mandala Offering to Tārā, which I translated the extensive Introduction into English here. [iv].
He first explains the the lineage history of Tārā in Tibet, how the Je Atisha tradition of Tārā became the most well-known and widespread in Tibet, and from that, the Karma Kagyu tradition of White Tārā, and Green Tārā of the Acacia Forest (Sengdeng Nagki Drolma) their Four-fold Mandala Offering to Tāra is unique, separate and distinctive from the other two main traditions (Sakya and Nar-thang) of Tārā that were spread in Tibet. Regarding White Tāra, the 17th Karmapa explains that:
“Among the majority of the Jowo [Atisha] tradition of White Tārā that became a great chariot of teachings, there were none that did not come from Je Gampopa. It is said that this indicates White Tārā, and because of that, most people think that she is just a deity of long-life. However, by practicing White Tārā, life, merit, and all wisdom increase. The mantra of this practice has the following meaning: “Puṇya is merit. Jñāna is primordial wisdom. Puṣṭiṃ kuru svāhā means may those increase.
For more on the Karmapas and Noble Tārā, see here. For a translation I did last year on the Introduction of a new text on the Daily Practice of Five-Deity Tārā by 17th Karmapa, see here.
Music? White Tārā mantra chanted by 17th Karmapa, Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson, and my birthday reel and song tribute to 17th Karmapa (2024).
Dedicating the merit to all beings, may we all become inseparable from the great beauty and compassion of Mother Jetsunma Tārā! And to the long-life, health and happiness of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley!
Endnotes
[i] The Tibetan word here is མཚན tshen, which can mean “name” or “characteristics”, or even “private parts” (the latter would be on the more secret mantra bliss level translation/meaning though!).