Over the centuries, Vajrayana Buddhists journeyed, in their minds, to visit dazzling pure lands, filled with wondrous Enlightened Beings. Imagine, now, closing your eyes to meditate on Emptiness, and glimpsing none other than Red Tara in her form as Kurukulla. Kurukulla, the powerful manifestation of Buddha in a Female Buddha form — Red Tara, the magnetizing Buddha of Magic and Wonder and Metta.
FOR A CHANTED KURUKULLA VIDEO from Buddha Weekly:    • Kurukulla Red Tara — Enlightened Ench...  
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Join our editor Lee Kane, as he imagines meeting magical Kurukulla with a visualization, and ending in her mantra 108 times.
NOTE ON PRACTICE: The Kurukulle mantra is widely published. It is generally acceptable to honour Kurukulla by visualizing her in front of you. You do not visualize yourself as Kurukulla unless you have empowerment.
NOTE on PRONUNCIATION: Her proper name is Kurukulla (a is pronounced "ah" in Sanskrit). Only the mantra uses the vocative form (Kurukulle) of her name. (E is pronounced "eh" in Sanskrit.
NOTE ON MANTA: Here, the mantra is not sung as a chanted song, but intoned vibratively, as you might do in practice, in regular soft monotones.
IMAGE CREDIT: Watch for a stunning painting by Thomas Edwards   / thomas.edwards.3975012  
Introductory transcript: Lee Kane:
I invite you on a journey into the mysterious, wondrous and majestic world of Vajrayana Buddhism. You may find it both familiar and exotic at the same time.

Today, instead of unguided mindfulness, our mind will take us to a wondrous world, where we can glimpse Shunyata, emptiness, wisdom and compassion — all in the form of a beautiful, glowing, Female Buddha. The first lesson, of Vajrayana Buddhism, is, simply that wisdom and compassion, and Enlightened Buddhas, can appear in any form that suits our mind — as a meditative Buddha sitting under a tree, or as a Buddha of Infinite Light, glorious and majestic, or as a playful Dakini, dancing on our mind. All you need, to meet such exotic and fantastic Buddhas is to allow your mind to imagine. Take a journey with me now...

You are seated in your simple meditation room, settled in a comfortable posture, back straight. Your half-opened eyes are aware of the single flickering candle.

You are watching your own mind, as your Rinpoche suggested. Not analyzing. Not studying. Just watching.

You are surprised where your mind goes, sometimes at the speed of light, one second here, one second there. You have flashes of your day at work, full of stress. You slap yourself down, then stop yourself. Your teacher guided you not to control, just to watch.

And this is why, you are startled, when your half closed eyes glimpse a wondrous form — a dancing red form. A playful, stunningly beautiful female Buddha. She seems both wrathful and laughing at the same time. She spins and dances in a dirvish of brilliant light, dazzling and hypnotic. She is dancing on the edge of emptiness, glowing with light, fantastical, beautiful, dazzling.

You know her. You've sen her in books. Your teacher has spoken of her briefly. She is Tara, the Female aspect of Buddha — but here, semi-wrathful, playful and exotic all at the same time. Her three eyes — yes, she has a third eye, open at her forehead — is focused on you piercingly, yet you see her glowing light, her blessing light, pushing out in all directions, absorbing into all beings, going out to all worlds, dimensions and times. She's not just here for you. You know her blessings are for everyone.

Her name is Kurukulla. She is also Red Tara. She is equally all Taras. She is also all Buddhas at once. She is also magic personified. She knows we all need a little magic in our lives, so she dances into our meditation in the form of the dancing magician. She does this because she knows life becomes too dry and numbing in the absence of joy and magic. This is, in part, her mission. She returns us to the euphoric joy of Buddha's Dharma. For today, we can put aside our mindfulness practice, and focus on the magic of her appearance. We can return to wonder... (More about Kurukulla in the introduction, followed by a visualization, and 108 repetitions of the mantra with more animated visualizations.)

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