All Night Retreat In Praise of Mother Tara

Every month on the eighth day of the lunar calendar, my beautifully decorated Tara altar comes graciously alive. My close friends and I get together to reset the process to give praise to Tara in her 21 legendary emanations. We set out packs of biscuits, stack up loads of apples, oranges, pears, and other seasonal fruits, and make colourful arrangements of lotus, lilies, daisies, and roses. We light up long-lasting candles in the room where we invoke the Goddess and recite her 21 praises 12 times.

It was always a happy occasion, which is usually followed by a lovely dinner and bonding session. In June, however, we decided to have an all-night Tara retreat where we stayed up through the night to complete at least 108 recitations of the 21 Tara praises. This is a practice to invoke the powerful and instantaneous blessings of the mighty Mother Goddess. I am so thrilled to report that that Saturday night, we collectively completed 1,680 recitations of the 21 Tara praises! Such cause for rejoicing!

I try to organize at least one such all-night retreat once a year, as it is such a beneficial practice. The Noble Tara is known the world over as the Swift Liberator. She acts super fast when anyone invokes help from her. She manifests in so many forms and has so many different names, taking care of every aspiration of mankind. In total, there are said to be 108 known and identified forms of Tara. By collectively addressing the 21 Taras, or even just one Goddess Tara, we instantly come under the parasol of the mighty Goddess.

No matter what request you may have, and irrespective of what spiritual tradition or religion you may be a member of, when you ask Tara for assistance, guidance, or blessings, you can be sure that when you recite her mantra and sing her praises, she will hear you and come to your aid.

This article dates back to 2016, which was the Year of the Monkey — a year associated with a Great Guru Rinpoche. It is said to be an ideal year to turn one’s thoughts toward looking for the “life stone,” a precious stone or rock that looks quite ordinary on the outside but is filled with one gorgeous colour within. Finding this life stone can be difficult and even impossible for some, but it can also be so easy for others. It depends on one’s merit, which is magnified by doing spiritual practice.

Doing spiritual practices is not difficult, but it requires effort. These practices always involve making offerings of food, incense, and milk, laid out in a specific manner. This should be followed by the recitation of the offering ritual, the actual offering itself, the recitation of praises, and finally, completing the initial ritual layout on auspicious days.

For Mother Tara, the offering ritual is always done on the eighth day of the lunar calendar. For Guru Rinpoche, it is always on the tenth day of the lunar calendar. That is when we also prepare offerings of food and tea and then recite various invocation prayers. For Guru Rinpoche, the layout of the offering is usually the same.

You can see how large and extensive the offering layouts for the puja sessions are. Indeed, it is said that the offering of food and milk is an essential part of any prayer ritual. In the past, most of these offering prayer rituals were done by monks in their monasteries as a spiritual service to those seeking help. These days, however, I have discovered that we can do many of these prayer rituals ourselves.

In doing so, many hidden and secret practices, as well as many new Lamas and teachers, have come into our lives to teach us even more. Indeed, I am often awed by the advice and assistance that literally falls into my lap — books created, designed, and shared each time I ask for such help from Tara. For me, this all-night retreat is also a way to seek advice on what aspects of Buddhist practice and Feng Shui to share.