Zhagjilhamo (lcags kyi lha mo)

Meaning of Titles

Sacred Status

Core Vows & Merits

1. Wealth Bestowal & Commerce Protection Especially potent for speculative gains (stocks/lotteries/ventures); Measurable prosperity surge reported by merchants after pilgrimage.
2. Dispelling Disasters & Grudges Resolves karmic creditor entanglements and legal disputes/gossip.
3. Journey Safety & Home Guardianship Original function: Shielding travelers and warding off malign energies from dwellings.

Iconography

• Soot-blackened visage (retained karmic traces from poisoning/hanging)
• Blood-red tongue draping to chest (undissolved venom)

• Chicken-claw feet (supernatural transformation post-mortem)

• Crown: Buddha’s blessing empowerment
• Vase: Pouring forth material abundance

Rituals & Practices

1. Essential Libation: Pour specially consecrated "wealth liquor" (sold temple-side) into altar vats

2. Day-Specific Petitions:
   1. Monday: Wealth prayers
   2. Wednesday: Safety blessings (peak pilgrim day)
   3. Friday: Health requests
3. Smoke Purification (lhasang): Burn juniper pine and mugwort before entering

4. Khata Offering: Tie white silk scarves to shrine railings
    

    

    

   

    

   Green Tārā

   Meaning of Titles

   • Sanskrit: "Tārā" (Savioress) Green symbolizes fearless vitality and dynamic action; Tibetan: Drölma (སྒྲོལ་མ, "Liberator from All Suffering").
   • Sacred Status: Chief of Twenty-One Tārās; Fully Enlightened Buddha (not Bodhisattva) manifested from Avalokiteśvara’s tears; Supreme embodiment of awakened femininity in Tibetan Buddhism.

   Core Vows & Merits

   1. Rescue from Eight Perils: Swiftly delivers from: • Lion (tyranny) • Elephant (madness) • Fire • Snake • Bandits • Imprisonment • Water (shipwreck) • Non-human spirits (black magic)
   2. Accomplishing Endeavors: Removes obstacles, enhances wisdom; Especially invoked for women’s welfare, fertility, and career success.

   Iconography

   Compassionate Manifestation:

   • Right Leg: Extended (poised to rise for immediate aid)
   • Left Leg: Folded in vajrāsana (meditative equipoise)
   • Seated: Upon lotus-moon disc throne
   • Right Hand: Varada Mudrā (granting boons)
   • Left Hand: Holds utpala flower (blue lotus symbolizing wisdom)

   Symbolic Attributes:

   • Emerald-green body: Nature’s vitality and Buddha-activity (swift as wind)
   • Youthful form: Five-Buddha crowned, eyes tenderly gazing like a mother
   • Attire: Celestial silks with jeweled ornaments

   Mantras & Practices

   1. Root Heart Mantra:

   oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā (ॐ तारे तुत्तारे तुरे स्वाहा) Function: Recite 21x continuously day/night to: • Dispel calamities • Increase merit

   2. Essential Practice:

   • Dawn Recitation: Safeguards throughout the day
   • Offerings: • Turquoise (enhances worldly endeavors) • Roasted barley (symbolizes abundance)

    

    

    

   

    

   White Tārā

   Meaning of Titles

   • Sanskrit: "Sitatārā" (Immaculate Savioress) Embodies flawless longevity and purifying wisdom-light; Tibetan: Drölma Karpo (སྒྲོལ་མ་དཀར་མོ, "Liberator from All Mortal Perils").
   • Sacred Status: Source of longevity among the Twenty-One Tārās; Pure karma Buddha-mother born from Avalokiteśvara’s tears; Twin manifestation with Green Tārā of compassion-wisdom union; Governs lifespan extension, disease eradication, and karmic purification.

   Core Vows & Merits

   1. Overcoming Death: Seven eyes perceive all three realms → Neutralizes fatal calamities, pandemics, and violent deaths → Bestows century-long vitality.
   2. Wisdom Purification: Cleanses primordial greed/ignorance karma → Awakens past-life wisdom → Realizes emptiness (śūnyatā).

   Iconography

   Seven-Eyed Compassion:

   • Third Eye (forehead): Sees karmic nets across past/present/future
   • Four Eyes (palms & soles): Illuminate suffering of all births
   • Two Closed Eyes: Total omniscience (Σ=7 eyes)
   • Right Hand: Varada Mudrā (granting longevity)
   • Left Hand: Holds curved-stem utpala supporting nectar vase

   Symbolic Attributes:

   • Moon-white body: Ultimate purity → Seated on 16-petal moon disc (16 emptinesses)
   • Crown & Attire: • Amitābha Buddha as crown jewel • White silk robes radiating gentle compassion

   Mantras & Longevity Practices

   1. Longevity Essence Mantra:

   oṃ tāre tuttāre ture māmā āyuḥ jñāna puṇye jñāna puṣṭiṃ kuru svāhā (ॐ तारे तुत्तारे तुरे मामा आयुः ज्ञान पुण्ये ज्ञान पुष्टिं कुरु स्वाहा) Function:

   • Recite 21x at dawn → Purifies subtle channels (nāḍī), extends lifespan
   • Transforms diseases into wisdom-light

   2. Essential Practice:

   • Offerings: • Clear quartz crystal (purifies karma) • Dairy congee (nourishes prāṇa-blood vitality)
   • Visualization: White light beams from forehead "hūṃ" (हूं) → Penetrates central channel (avadhūtī) → Dissolves black karma

    

    

    

   

    

   Padmasambhava

   Meaning of Titles

   • Sanskrit: Padmasambhava (Lotus-Born)
   • Tibetan Honorific: Gu ru Rin po che (Precious Master) Signifies "the Awakened One manifested from a lotus blossom", embodying
   • unstained buddha-wisdom.

   Sacred Status

   Founder of Tibetan Buddhism:

   8th-century master who established Samye Monastery, subdued Bön deities, and cemented Dharma in Tibet.

   Primordial Patriarch of Nyingma School:

   Revered as "Second Buddha", equal to Śākyamuni.

   Embodiment of Trikāya:

   • Dharmakāya: Seal of Śākyamuni’s Mind
   • Sambhogakāya: Seal of Amitābha’s Speech
   • Nirmāṇakāya: Seal of Avalokiteśvara’s Form

   Core Merits & Mission

   1. Subjugating Demons & Transmitting Dharma: Tamed Tibetan mountain spirits (e.g., Nyenchen Tanglha);
   2. Converted Bön protectors into Buddhist guardians; Concealed termas (rock-concealed esoteric teachings) for future tertöns (treasure-revealers).
   3. Bestowing Deathless Accomplishment: Taught Dzogchen (Great Perfection) for realizing rainbow body (ja lus—physical dissolution into light);
   4. Protects practitioners from untimely death and elemental disasters; Especially potent for removing obstacles.

   Iconography

   Peaceful-Wrathful Synthesis:

   • Peaceful Aspect:
     • Lotus crown (purity) • Brocade robes
     • Right hand: Vajra (shattering ignorance)
     • Left hand: Skull cup (kapala) with wisdom-nectar
     • Left elbow: Rests on khaṭvāṅga (triple-skull tip symbolizing Trikāya)
   • Wrathful Aspect ("Lion's Roar"): Diamond-like face • Rides sun-ray lion • Tramples demon corpses
   • Red-white complexion (lotus hue) in vajra posture, encircled by rainbow light.

   Mantras & Practices

   I. Root Heart Mantra: oṃ ā hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ (ༀ་ཨཱཿ་ཧཱུྂ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྂ༔)

   Effects: Ignites wisdom • Smashes obstacles • Grants longevity attainment

   II. Terma Practice System

   1. Vajrakīlaya (Phurba) Practice: Subjugates inner/outer demons through ritual daggers.
   2. Copper-Colored Mountain Pure Land: Visualize Padmasambhava’s celestial realm (Zangdokpalri).

    

    

    

   

    

   Śrīdevī

   Meaning of Titles

   • Sanskrit: Śrīdevī (Goddess of Merit)
   • Tibetan: dPal ldan lha mo (Glorious Divine Mother) Esoteric Title: Enemy-Repelling
   • Vajra Mother Embodies protection through terrifying majesty and bestowal of victory/auspiciousness.

   Sacred Status

   Supreme Feminine Dharma Protector: Highest-tier supramundane protector (transcends saṃsāra);

   Paired with Mahākāla (supreme masculine protector); Lifelong guardian of Jokhang Temple in

   Gelug tradition. Protector of Tārā Mandala: Directly safeguards Twenty-One Tārās; Governs karmic retribution, plagues, and warfare.

   Core Vows & Merits

   1. Repelling Enemies & Safeguarding Dharma: Subdues heretics and hostile
   2. forces (especially protects Tibetan religious-political leaders); Halts epidemics (historically stopped 18th-century smallpox outbreak).
   3. Auspiciousness Bestowal: Enhances power/wealth and spiritual provisions; Reveals prophecies (via dice divination).

   Iconography

   Terrifying Mule-Rider Form:

   • Blue-black body with flaming hair: Subjugating triple-realm demons
   • All-seeing eye on mule’s rump: Penetrating all karmic obscurations
   • Left hand: Skull-cup of demon blood
   • Right hand: Vajra (shattering ignorance)

   Karmic Implements:

   • Saddle of flayed human skin (conquered attachment)
   • Peacock-feather parasol (shielding worldly contamination)
   • Mule treading blood-sea (samsara as nirvana)
   • Plague-poison bag at waist (transmuting disease into wisdom)

   Mantras & Practices

   I. Subjugation Heart Mantra: oṃ penden lhamo siddhi hūṃ phaṭ (ༀ་དཔལ་ལྡན་ལྷ་མོ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ་ཕཊ༔)

   II. Practice Mandates

   1. Empowerment Prerequisite: FORBIDDEN without lineage initiation (risks non-human interference).
   2. Unique Offerings:
      1. Black sesame seeds (burning negative karma)
      2. Distilled liquor (igniting wisdom-fire)
      3. STRICTLY PROHIBITED: Fresh flowers/fruits (accepts blood-substitute foods only)
   3. Dice Divination: Cast tribal dice (three white faces/three black faces) post-practice to interpret omens.