Text of the Month: In Praise of the Twenty-One Noble Tārās with Albion Butters

In this Text of the Month session, KVP Managing Editor Dr. Albion M. Butters explores A Garland of Fresh Utpalas of Benefit and Bliss, a praise to the Twenty-One Noble Tārās that Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo composed at around eighteen.

The session opens with a map of the four main traditions of the Twenty-One Tārās (Sūryagupta, Atiśa, Jigme Lingpa’s Longchen Nyingtik, and Chokgyur Lingpa) and a comparison of their names, colors, and implements. Khyentse Wangpo’s praise follows the Longchen Nyingtik closely, while opening with two forms found outside it: Durgottāriṇī, drawn from the Sādhanamālā, and Varadā Tārā, prominent in the Sūryagupta tradition.

Albion M. Butters holds a Ph.D. in the History of Religion from Columbia University and is a Docent at the University of Turku, specializing in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. He is Managing Editor at Khyentse Vision Project and editor of Studia Orientalia Electronica.