The Sutra of Tara Who Protects from the Eight Fears

The Sutra of Tara Who Protects from the Eight Fears (Skt. Tārāṣṭaghoratāraṇīsūtra; Tib. སྒྲོལ་མ་འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད་འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད་ལས་སྐྱོབ་པའི་མདོ་, drolma jikpa gyé jikpa gyé lé kyobpé do, Wyl. sgrol ma 'jigs pa brgyad las skyob pa'i mdo) — a tantra of Tara taught by Tara herself.

In this teaching, the goddess Tara warns the gods of the desire realm about the miseries of samsara and offers a pithy Dharma teaching to free them from harm. Tara begins by vividly portraying the various kinds of suffering endured by beings in each of the six realms of samsara and then points out the futility of reciting mantras without maintaining pure conduct. She goes on to encourage the listeners to engage in virtue, which puts an end to samsara, and she bestows on them a dharani that will help them to achieve this goal, a praise of her qualities, and a request for her divine protection that they should recite. Finally, she enjoins the audience to read and practice the teaching and share it with others.

Text

There seems to be no extant Sanskrit version of this text, nor is there a Chinese version recorded in the Taishō Buddhist Canon. It is also not found in the Denkarma or Pangtangma Catalogue.

Tibetan Translation

The Tibetan translation can be found in the Tantra section of the Kangyur and is classified as a Kriya Tantra, Toh 731. Translators are unknown.

English Translations

• Martin Willson, The Sutra of Arya-Tara Who Saves From the Eight Fears in In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress (Wisdom Publications, 1986), page 87-91.
• Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers