I prostrate to the one thousand Buddhas of the Auspicious Time. Long ago, the mother of all the six kinds of beings, the Mother Green Tārā,
the most tender of nature,
the manifest speedy liberator,
at the Dünchin three storied temple of Yangsin monastery, from the age of ten to the age of seventy-seven, sat meditating on a difficult dhyāna. After completing the transmission of the dhyāna, the mother of all the six kinds of beings,
the most tender of nature,
the manifest speedy liberator,
the Mother Green Tārā went, flying upward to the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time of Sakyamuni Burqan, Vajrapani Burqan, and the ten thousand monks. She circumambulated the land of the one thousand Buddhas three times. “At the Dünchin three-storied temple of Yangsin monastery, from the age of ten to the age of seventy-seven, I sat meditating on a difficult dhyāna. What is before me recedes; what is behind me approaches. Now, as I am alone, I request the holy one for an offspring.” The one thousand Buddhas of the Auspicious Time blessed the Mother Green Tārā with the six good medicines. After imbibing the medicines, at the age of 99 years, the son, the Bodhisattva Oyuu, from the lineage of Vajrapani,
with a colour like that of the rising sun,
with reds lips like a pomegranate,
with a beautiful tall balanced body like Vairocana,
with teeth like precious jade,
with a back like the wish-fulfilling kalpavrishka tree,
with the true aspect of a Buddha,
was born. The boy was covered with lotus flowers and fed with the juices of various fruits. After three days, the boy disappeared, he left. Mother Green Tārā’s nice wide diaphragm was folded, pulled upward. Her bright illuminated chest became dark, her courageous peaceful heart became restless and wavering; the white breasts of the Great Mother became parched and dry. Her face, white like the moon, darkened, she fell on her beautiful sandalwood legs; she gathered dust with her golden mouth.
Until the sky above shook,
until the earth below trembled: she wept,
from the dried-out trees, leaves and fruit began to grow,
from the hollowed-out ground, water began to flow:
until then, she lamented.
At that time, arriving up from the land of Noble Time of the one thousand Buddhas, came Sakyamuni Buddha. Drawing upwards his right hand, he offered the teachings of the three times. Upwards he went, flying above.
The mother of all the six kinds of beings, the Mother Green Tārā,
the most tender of nature,
the manifest speedy liberator,
turned into a grey dappled hawk with golden wings and a silver tail. Flying, she went up to the land of the Noble Buddhas. She circumambulated the one thousand Buddhas three times. “At the Dünchin three-storied temple of Yangsin monastery, from the age of ten to the age of seventy-seven, I meditated on a difficult dhyāna. Having completed the dhyāna, and arriving in the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Nobel Time, being alone, when I requested the holy one for one offspring, at the age of 99 years, the Bodhisattva Oyuu,
with a colour like that of the rising sun,
with reds lips like a pomegranate,
with a beautiful tall balanced body like Vairocana,
with teeth like precious jade,
with a back like the wish-fulfilling kalpavrishka tree,
with the true aspect of a Buddha,
was born. He was covered with the insides of lotus flowers, but for the past three days my only born son, the Bodhisattva Oyuu has disappeared, gone away. I have wondered if he has had a good fate, if he has been born as a disciple in the land of the one thousand Buddhas.” When she asked if they had seen her only born son, they said: “Abai! Mother of all the six kinds of beings, our Mother Green Tārā! We have not seen your only born son.” She put out the word, stating his characteristics to the After-Trace, the Path of the Dead: “At the top of his heart, there is an ink-black birth-mark covered with five hundred signs. Between his two shoulders, there is a yellow-red birth-mark in the shape of a pearl. If it is so, that perhaps truly may be my son,” she said, putting out the word, and she descended to Lower Jambutib, thinking he might have been born among the beings of the eighteen hells. She asked those very beings if they “had seen my only born son, the Bodhisattva Oyuu.” The beings of the eighteen hells replied: “Abai! Mother of all the six kinds of beings, our Mother Green Tārā! As for your only born son, the Bodhisattva Oyuu, we have not seen him.” The Mother Green Tārā cleansed all the sufferings of the beings of the eighteen hells, and thinking he might have been born among the two-legged men and the four-legged livestock in Upper Jambutib, she also asked those beings. They said they had not seen him. Mother Green Tārā cleansed the sufferings of the human beings and the animals of Jambutib; she lamented making a sound like a flute, she wept, and she went on, thinking that he might have perished, drowning in the outer seas. She swept the outer seas for three months, and did not find him. She returned, and she lamented making a sound like a flute, she wept, she went on, and she met a raven. “Mother of all the six kinds of beings, Mother Green Tārā, what place do you go to?” the raven asked. The Mother Green Tārā said, “At my age of 99 years,
with a colour like that of the rising sun,
with reds lips like a pomegranate,
with a beautiful tall balanced body like Vairocana,
with teeth like precious jade,
with a back like the wish-fulfilling kalpavrishka tree,
with the true aspect of a Buddha,
the Bodhisattva Oyuu was born. That son of mine, for the past three days, has disappeared, gone away. I looked for him in the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time and didn’t find him. I asked the beings of the lower hells and didn’t find him. I went to the two-legged humans and the four-legged livestock of Jambutib, I asked them, and I didn’t find him. I swept the outer seas for three months and I didn’t find him,” she said. The raven,
even though it did not have a sympathetic heart,
but did have a mocking nature;
even though it did not have a merciful heart,
but did have a bad nature,
said he didn’t know, but, “I have seen, atop the golden mountain, meditating the dharma nature of the seven ages,
having completed the dhyāna for 99 years,
the knower of bones and tongues,
the Wise White Hermit of the Sky. I have seen that with black and white stones he reads fates in the stars, the black and white stones he has laid down. He knows,” said the raven. The Mother Green Tārā offered a song of praise to the raven, “Oh, my raven, you showed me the way, you straightened my path:
May your body never know the chill of the wintry sky,
May your eyes penetrate through sixty valleys,”
and in place of watery eyes, she blessed him with the eye of wisdom. From there, the Mother Green Tārā went to the top of the golden mountain. She circumambulated the Wise White Hermit of the Sky, who had meditated on the dharma qualities of the seven ages, completed the dhyāna of 99 years and was the knower of bones and tongues, three times. “At the Dünchin three- storied temple of Yangsin monastery, from the age of ten to the age of seventy-seven, I meditated on a difficult dhyāna. Having completed the dhyāna, and now, being alone, because I requested the one thousand Buddhas for one offspring, at the age of 99 years, the Bodhisattva Oyuu,
with a colour like that of the rising sun,
with reds lips like a pomegranate,
with a beautiful tall balanced body like Vairocana,
with teeth like precious jade,
with a back like the wish-fulfilling kalpavrishka tree,
with the true aspect of a Buddha,
was born. That son of mine, for the past three days has disappeared, gone away. I looked for him in the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time and didn’t find him. I asked the beings of the lower hells, and didn’t find him. I went to the two-legged humans and the four-legged livestock of Upper Jambutib and asked them, and I didn’t find him. I searched the outer seas for three months and I didn’t find him. So I ask you, the Wise White Hermit of the Sky, for a sign,” she said. The Wise White Hermit of the Sky, using stones of three colours, white, green, and blue, reading the fates in the stars, caused a sign to descend. “Abai! Mother of all the six kinds of beings, my Mother Green Tārā! Your only born son, the Bodhisattva Oyuu, is in the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time,” he said, as he prophesized. Then the Mother Green Tārā said: “Abai! May your words be true. If they are true, may a sea of milk flow from my dried-out great mother’s white breast.” From the white breast of the great mother, a sea of milk flowed. When a golden plate was filled, the paramita of the suckling offering was completed. The Wise White Hermit of the Sky also made a sign descend with stones of one colour. “My Mother Green Tārā, your son the Bodhisattva Oyuu:
with the greatest of praise,
with a purified dharma body,
with eleven faces,
with the diadem of Amida Buddha,
with a perfect body,
with one thousand mudras of equanimity,
with eyes that perceive all,
with the aspect of compassion for beings,
with the aroma of juniper and sandalwood,
with raiments of various silks,
with ornaments of precious stones,
with the Word of Qongsim Bodhisattva,
with the melody of a phoenix,
with the mantra of the precious holy six perfected syllables,
with the wisdom-heart of the Reciter of the Three Times,
with the treasury of the single precious wish-fulfilling jewel, the čindamani,
with the colour of a white conch shell of perfected strength,
with immeasurable light,
he is certainly the true Bodhisattva,” he said, as he prophesized. The Mother Green Tārā said, “May your words be true,” and she completed the paramita, offering her own four precious limbs. He too, with one-coloured stones, caused a sign to descend: “Since the suffering of the six kinds of beings has become too great, your son, the Bodhisattva Oyuu, has been stolen and taken away to the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Blissful Time by Sakyamuni Burqan, Vajrapani Burqan, and the ten thousand monks of the sky—he is hidden inside a golden stupa, inside a golden-white vase of three hundred and sixty-six layers,” he said, as he prophesized. The Mother Green Tārā, completed the paramita of offering her body, speech and heart. The Mother Green Tārā offered a song of praise to the Wise White Hermit of the Sky: “Although in this life you have been an ordinary baγsi, in the next life, you will be the lord of the Jimisgeleng Mountain and you shall become a Burqan and be called the White Old Man, going forth and cleansing the sufferings of all beings and livestock, bearing a dragon-headed staff in your right hand,” she said, offering the song of praise. The Wise White Hermit of the sky also offered a song of praise: “My Mother Green Tārā! Searching for and finding Oyuu Bodhisattva, may you go easily cleansing the sufferings of the suffering beings.” And that is how Mother Green Tārā, through the strength of her song of praise, turned him into the Old White Man.
The mother of all the six kinds of beings, Mother Green Tārā,
the most tender of nature,
the manifest speedy liberator,
transformed into a grey-mottled hawk with golden wings, a silver tail, and going to the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time, she lamented making a sound like a flute. “On the peak of the black mountain, where does my growling wanderer, my black mottled tiger go?” she cried out, lamenting. Then, at the crossing of two roads, she saw a woman in a black felt cloak and carrying a dung basket; she undid all of her ornaments, and gave them to her, she carried the old woman’s basket; in her right hand she held a mottled sack, in her left hand, she held an old faded staff; she transformed into the beggar woman. She spent three months in the yurt of the woman. At that time, on the fifteenth day of the middle month of summer, the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time were having an audience with the Bodhisattva Oyuu, seated on a golden throne with eighteen legs: surrounded in all directions by approximately a thousand Bodhisattvas, they were listening to a blessing dharma. When Mother Green Tārā saw him, she thought, that really may be my son, and she could not make a sound. Sakyamuni Burqan uttered the words: “You Bodhisattvas, who do you think this old woman is?” And the Bodhisattvas said: “We don’t know her. Isn’t it the Mother Green Tārā?” So the Bodhisattvas pulled up a white rainbow in front of the Mother Green Tārā. They made Bodhisattva Oyuu come down from the throne, and hid him inside a golden-white vase of three hundred and sixty-six layers; then they put another Bodhisattva on the throne. When the Mother Green Tārā blew the rainbow away, she did not see her own Bodhisattva there, she saw an unknown Bodhisattva. The Mother Green Tārā’s face, white like the moon, grew black; she fell onto her beautiful sandalwood legs; she went along lamenting, making a sound like a flute: “My only born Bodhisattva Oyuu, so you are leaving your mother,” she said, gathering dust with her mouth. At that time Sakyamuni Burqan went up, drawing his right hand upwards: he licked the dust off her mouth with his tongue three times, pulling it upwards, he uttered the teachings of the three times:
The end of love is surely separation
The end of separation is surely meeting
The end of birth is surely death
The end of death is surely birth
The end of what is planted is surely to be cut down
The end of what is cut down is surely to be planted,
he said, and having given this teaching, he went upwards to his own land.
The son Oyuu Bodhisattva heard his mother, the mother of the six kinds of beings,
the most tender of nature,
the manifest speedy liberator,
the Mother Green Tārā, he heard how she lamented making a sound like a flute. Her son Oyuu Bodhisattva made a quick sharp sound; uttering the words:
All things to their own time;
all things to their own measure,
he kicked apart the golden vase of three hundred and sixty-six layers and he came out of the golden stupa, he went to his mother and embraced her around her neck. Sakyamuni Burqan heard the sound of their crying and fell off his throne. All of the disciples were oppressed by the bitterness of the impermanent mind. The great horn of the three days of Vajrapani Burqan ceased to sound, the gathering was interrupted. From the tears of the two, mother and son, came a great sea. The physical defects of a human being who bathed in the sea were made whole. A blind-dark being became a being with eyes; a deaf being became a being with ears. At that time Sakyamuni Burqan, the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time, and all of the Bodhisattvas came and could not separate the Mother Green Tārā and her son. Sakyamuni Burqan uttered a command to Vajrapani Burqan: “You surely must have a way. Try to separate these two, mother and son,” he said. So Vajrapani Burqan, assuming a stern aspect, took the vajra from the top of his head, and caused two iron fangs to descend; he made a brown-mottled dragon emerge from his right leg; from his left leg, he brought forth a yellow-mottled dragon; he made a terrible sound, and separated mother and son. Mother Green Tārā grabbed onto her son’s right hand: thinking he might disappear again, and that this must not be, she embraced him again. Oyuu Bodhisattva could not be separated from his mother. Pulling out his thirty-two perfected precious white teeth, he assumed the aspect of three years of age, and he suckled at the white breast of the great mother. After three months had passed, the mother’s breast shrunk to half its size and the son was satisfied. Then mother and son embraced each other. “When we two, mother and son, wept, they say that the sound made Sakyamuni Buddha fall off his chair. They say that all of the former students’ minds were oppressed by the bitterness of impermanence. They say that the great horn of Vajrapani Buddha of the gathering of the three times ceased to sound. Now, we two shall alleviate that loss.” So, bringing silk khatags on 500 mules and donkeys, arriving at the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas on the golden throne with eighteen legs, they completed the offering paramita.
“When I was looking for my Oyuu Bodhisattva, I saw many beings. There are many joyful beings; there are also many suffering beings. But perhaps there are too many suffering beings. I want to free the suffering beings from their suffering—is my intention right, or is it wrong?” she asked. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas said: “Abai! It is fine, fine, your intention is very nice. Even though we are truly perfected Buddhas, we cannot have compassion for the suffering of all of the beings; we, however, rejoice with you.” Then the Bodhisattvas paid a visit to the Mother Green Tārā and her son on the throne with eighteen legs: they circumambulated seven times and prostrated three times, and they said, “If we have caused you suffering, since the suffering of the six kinds of beings has become great, we shall examine the suffering of the suffering beings; you poor tired dear,” they said, and offering silk khatags, they completed the offering paramita.
The mother of all the six kinds of beings, Mother Green Tārā, took her son the Bodhisattva Oyuu: they made their way to the beings of the eighteen dark hells of Jambutib, going by the great cart road. At the intersection of two roads, they saw an elderly lama who had passed away lying there; they came closer to see: how had the monk been separated from the precious human body? When they saw that he had almost just died, how he lay there yet moving, still alive, they placed him on their own four precious limbs: for three months he suckled on the white breast of the great mother, and they carried him: The old lama had grown very thin and he could not walk, so both mother and son took turns carrying him. The flesh of his shoulder was emaciated, his bones turned white, as they carried him. Then the old lama showed the face of impermanence. They laid his corpse in a cemetery next to a large monastery, and went on, arriving in the land of hell. Adjacent to the land of hell, they erected a golden sedge sandalwood stupa. The two, mother and son, meditated on a dhyāna beneath the stupa. The beings of hells found the holy Buddha. At that time a horse with a golden saddle and bridle, the Black Leaf Horse, came down from the sky. The horse carried the two, mother and son, and liberated the beings of hell from suffering.
At that time the ten thousand executioners of Erleg came to Erleg Dharma Khan. “We have patrolled hell. When hell is full, we are happy. If it is empty, we complain. Now hell has become empty.” Erleg Dharma Khan heard this and issued the command: “Seize the horse; bring it here.” The ten thousand executioners of Erleg came to seize the horse: the horse knew this through his wisdom, and he went to the executioners to greet them. The executioners said to the horse: “We have come to seize you.” The horse said:
“Were it my fate to fall to hell, I shall fall, no matter what you do.
Were it not my fate to fall to hell, I surely will not fall, no matter what you do.”
When Erleg’s men took away the horse and were about to leave, the horse took each executioner and sat him atop one of his hairs. They went to Erleg Khan. Erleg Khan issued a command: “Take this horse and put it in the hot hell,” he said. Ten thousand executioners took the horse and left him in the hot hell. When the Erlegs looked out from the opening of hell, they saw that from that hell-opening there grew various fruits of golden branches and silver leaves, a beautiful cool spring was flowing, and beautiful blue leaves were spreading. The suffering beings of hell praised the swan-like melodies; they went to the land of the one thousand Buddhas of the Noble Time, and were reborn there as disciples. The executioners went to their Khan: “What a troublesome horse that is. We don’t know that horse very well,” they said, and explained the case in detail. Erleg Dharma Khan said: “Put him in the cold hell, too.” The horse was put in the cold hell. When the Erleg’s men looked out through the opening of the cold hell, they saw that the horse also liberated the beings of that hell just as he had done in the previous hell. Again the executioners informed Erleg Khan. The Khan said to put the horse in a three- story cast-iron building, to tie the horse up with an iron halter ninety layers thick, and to hobble him with iron hobbles ninety layers thick. The executioners left the horse in that pitch black building and each went back to his own land. The horse kicked apart and then left the cast-iron building and went to the two, the Mother Green Tārā and her son, at the crossing of the two roads of before: “I was the lama who lay at the intersection of the two roads before. You carried me when the flesh on my shoulders grew emaciated and my bones turned white. If can repay your kindness, or I cannot repay it, I do not know. I would give the only-born daughter of the high Tengri Galdan, the marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, instructed in the five sciences, to Bodhisattva Oyuu as a qatun, in this way repaying the kindness of the milk from the great mother’s breast,” he said, and flew away off into the sky.
At that time, the ten thousand executioners arrived at the cast-iron building to look for the horse, and it wasn’t there. An envoy from Erleg Khan arrived; he told the executioners to fetch the horse. They could not say anything in reply. For three days and nights they lay across the mouth of hell in surveillance. The words were spoken, Present yourselves to the Khan!—so when the ten thousand executioners came to Erleg Khan, they said, “We don’t know that horse very well. He has disappeared from the black cast-iron building.” The Khan smiled: “That is not a horse. That is the Buddha Sakyamuni,” he said. “May the two, mother and son, come here for an audience.” When the envoy came to them to state the command of Erleg Khan, they said, “We two, mother and son, are meditating on a dhyāna to help the beings of hell. When the transmission of the dhyāna has been completed, we shall present ourselves.” The envoy returned. So when the Mother Green Tārā and her son together visited the Khan, they went before him, greeting him with burning aromatic incense, and paid a visit to him on the golden throne; circumambulating, they greeted him. When the Khan asked the measure of the powers of the Mother Green Tārā, she said she surely didn’t know: “Long ago the command of Sakyamuni Burqan came to be: The three bad fates shall not befall whoever reads the sūtra that tells the story of the Mother Green Tārā; thus it was said.” After that, Erleg Khan said, if this is true, at the time of the passing of one thousand eons, I shall differentiate between merit and defilement. After one thousand eons have passed, I shall recite a song of praise to be born as a disciple. And that is how, afterwards, at the time of the passing of one thousand eons, the Mother Green Tārā liberated the beings, and Erleg Khan differentiated between merit and defilement.
At that time the son of the Mother Green Tārā, the Bodhisattva Oyuu, was welcomed by the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. He became the Khan of the universe. When he took up government, the only daughter of Galdan Tengri, who was instructed in the five sciences, the marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, was made Qatun, and the human beings of samsāra became free of death and suffering: they enjoyed peace without hardship, and lived eternally, so it is said. In that way, the Black Leaf Horse, endowed with the eight excellent virtues soared up to the land of Khan Tengri. The only daughter of Galden Tengri, instructed in the five sciences, the marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, who was just then going for a stroll in the pure land of the wish to help beings, saw the horse, and uttered these words to her sister: “My beautiful and wise dakini, instructed in the three sciences! This is a magnificent, beautiful horse. Give it to me. I should like to try to ride,” she said. “Marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, instructed in the five sciences! Think upon this matter well in your broad beautiful chest. Investigate the meaning. This horse may not be ridden; against snares it is guarded.” The marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, instructed in the five sciences, satisfied in her heart, agreed, and said: “Bring the Black Leaf horse with the eight excellent virtues here.” The beautiful and wise dakini, instructed in the three sciences, zigzagged upwards with a trot, the horses’ hooves not even touching the tips of the grass, not even touching the shadows that lay upon the high mountains, and she selected for the Black Leaf Horse with the eight abilities a golden tether and a silver lasso; with that, she tethered the horse.
The marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, instructed in the five sciences, sat upon the Black Leaf Horse endowed with the eight excellent virtues, and with a comfortable pace, she passed five ber-e, with a lovely broad run, she passed ten ber-e, and arriving at the valley of Mount Sumeru, she circumambulated around the edge of the sea of milk, and before you could say ‘Höö-eh!’ she reached the universe of humans; before you could say ‘Zaa!’ she reached Jambutib. The beautiful and wise Dakini Gua, instructed in the three sciences, gave out the news with haste, and summoned her father Galden Tengri, her mother, Qatun Galbiri, the vast older brothers, the eighty thousand dakinis, and said:
“My marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, instructed in the five sciences!
Will you leave Father Galdan Tengri made to suffer in great bitterness,
Queen Mother Galbiri sunken into great sorrow,
All of the vast elder brothers of Tengri in sadness oppressed,
the eighty thousand dakinis, orphaned?
So many left behind,
Left alone as orphans.”
“My beautiful and wise dakini, instructed in the three sciences! Think well upon this matter in your beautiful broad chest. Examine the meaning and know it well. If I become the queen of the son of the Mother Green Tārā, the Bodhisattva Oyuu, the beings of samsāra will be without death and suffering, they shall be without loss, they shall live eternally in peace and joy,” she said: “I may not return—I shall follow the command of Buddha. Father Khan, Mother Qatun, all my people: this is my answer,” she said, and all the people of the land of Tengri cried bitter tears without measure.
The request of the son of the Mother Green Tārā, Bodhisattva Oyuu, was met with the consent of the marvellous Sandalwood Dakini, instructed in the five sciences, and together with Mother Green Tārā, following the command of Burqan Bodhisattva, they occupied the golden palace next to Bodalang. With peace and joy, with gratitude, they erected a silver stupa, and all of the beings of samsāra lived without death and suffering and hardship, in peace and joy they lived eternally.
The story of the Mother Green Tārā has been completed. May happiness abide!
Ottilie Mulzet translates from Hungarian and Mongolian. In 2014, she won the Best Translated Book Award for her translation of László Krasznahorkai's Seiobo There Below. Upcoming translations include Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens by László Krasznahorkai (Seagull, 2016) and The Dispossessed by Szilárd Borbely (HarperCollins, 2016).