Buddhism culture has immense stories of women empowerment
and the Ashtamangala eight auspicious symbols, actually help assist with life
journey and hence also known as the victorious eight. Reading extensively
sharing Goddess power ,The Green Tara and how to empower yourself to lead a
fruitful life of abundance and joy.
Recent visit to Ajanta And Ellora caves again brought the cultural symbolism and Goddess statues had so much beauty and they still do speak.
 |
| Ajanta Ellora caves Aurangabad |
 |
| Ajanta caves meditation |
 |
| Ajanta Ellora Caves |
 |
| White elephant painting story |
 |
| Ajanta Ellora caves Aurangabad |
There are mantars, japas and chants to empower yourself to
invoke her blessings. She appeared magically in one of my paintings and then I started
to read about her. There are so many references of how she magically blesses those
who invoke her with love and dedication. Truly I have been blessed with practicing
selfless dedication towards spreading Reiki to those who searched for and
requested and this was actually never planned. Sharing some information gathered
from Google.
All information below here is sourced from Google and
ancient books.
Tara (Sanskrit: तारा,
tārā; Tib. སྒྲོལ་མ་,
Drolma) or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma (Tibetan language:rje btsun
sgrol ma) in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who
appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the
"mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work
and achievements. In Japan she is known as Tarani Bosatsu, and little-known as
Tuoluo in Chinese Buddhism.
Tara is a tantric meditation deity whose practice is used by
practitioners of the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism to develop certain
inner qualities and understand outer, inner and secret teachings about
compassion and emptiness. Tara is actually the generic name for a set of
Buddhas or bodhisattvas of similar aspect. These may more properly be
understood as different aspects of the same quality, as bodhisattvas are often
considered metaphoric for Buddhist virtues.
The most widely known forms of Tārā are:
Green Tārā, known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
White Tārā, also known for compassion, long life, healing
and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
Red Tārā, of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all
good things
Black Tārā, associated with power
Yellow Tārā, associated with wealth and prosperity
Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger
Cittamani Tārā, a form of Tārā widely practiced at the level
of Highest Yoga Tantra in the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, portrayed as
green and often conflated with Green Tārā
Khadiravani Tārā (Tārā of the acacia forest), who appeared
to Nagarjuna in the Khadiravani forest of South India and who is sometimes
referred to as the "22nd Tārā."
There is also recognition in some schools of Buddhism of
twenty-one Tārās. A practice text entitled "In Praise of the 21
Tārās", is recited during the morning in all four sects of Tibetan
Buddhism.
The main Tārā mantra is the same for Buddhists and Hindus
alike: oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā. It is pronounced by Tibetans and Buddhists
who follow the Tibetan traditions as oṃ tāre tu tāre ture soha.
Emergence of Tārā as a Buddhist deity
Within Tibetan Buddhism Tārā is regarded as a Bodhisattva of
compassion and action. She is the female aspect of Avalokitesvara (Chenrezig)
and in some origin stories she comes from his tears:Tārā is also known as a
saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing
misery in samsara.
Whether the Tārā figure originated as a Buddhist or Hindu
Goddess is unclear and remains a source of dispute among scholars. Mallar Ghosh
believes her to have originated as a form of the goddess Durga in the Hindu
Puranas.[4] Today, she is worshipped both in Buddhism and in Shaktism as one of
the ten Mahavidyas. It may be true that goddesses entered Buddhism from
Shaktism (i.e. the worship of local or folk goddesses prior to the more
institutionalized Hinduism which had developed by the early medieval period
(i.e. Middle Kingdoms of India) as Buddhism was originally a religion devoid of
goddesses, and in fact deities, altogether.[dubious – discuss] Possibly the
oldest text to mention a Buddhist goddess is the Prajnaparamita Sutra
(translated into Chinese from the original Sanskrit ca. 2nd century CE), around
the time that Mahayana was becoming the dominant school of thought in Indian
and Chinese Buddhism.[dubious – discuss] Thus, it would seem that the feminine
principle makes its first appearance in Buddhism as the goddess who personified
the "Perfection of Wisdom" (Prajnaparamita).[5] Tārā came to be seen
as an expression of the compassion of perfected wisdom only later, with her
earliest textual reference being the Mañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa (ca. 5-8th centuries
CE).[6] The earliest, solidly identifiable image of Tārā is most likely that
which is still found today at cave 6 within the rock-cut Buddhist monastic
complex of the Ellora Caves in Maharashtra (ca. 7th century CE), with her
worship being well established by the onset of the Pala Empire in Northeast India
(8th c. CE).[7]
Tārā became a very popular Vajrayana deity with the rise of
Tantric Buddhism in 8th-century Pala India and, with the movement of Indian
Buddhism into Tibet via Padmasambhava, the worship and practices of Tārā became
incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism as well.[5][8] She eventually came to be
considered the "Mother of all Buddhas," which usually refers to the
enlightened wisdom of the Buddhas, while simultaneously echoing the ancient
concept of the Mother Goddess in India. Independent of whether she is
classified as a deity, a Buddha, or a bodhisattva, Tārā remains very popular in
Tibet (and Tibetan communities in exile in Northern India), Mongolia, Nepal,
Bhutan, and is worshiped in a majority of Buddhist communities throughout the
world (see also Guan Yin, the female aspect of Avalokitesvara in Chinese
Buddhism).
Today, Green Tara and White Tara are probably the most
popular representations of Tara. Green Tara/Khadiravani is usually associated
with protection from fear and the following eight obscurations: lions (=
pride), wild elephants (= delusion/ignorance), fires (= hatred and anger),
snakes (= jealousy), bandits and thieves (= wrong views, including fanatical
views), bondage (= avarice and miserliness), floods (= desire and attachment),
and evil spirits and demons (= deluded doubts). As one of the three deities of
long life, White Tara/Sarasvati is associated with longevity. White Tara
counteracts illness and thereby helps to bring about a long life. She embodies
the motivation that is compassion and is said to be as white and radiant as the
moon.Tārā has many stories told which explain her origin as a bodhisattva. One
in particular has a lot of resonance for women interested in Buddhism and quite
likely for those delving into early 21st century feminism.
In this tale there is a young princess who lives in a
different world system, millions of years in the past. Her name is Yeshe Dawa,
which means "Moon of Primordial Awareness". For quite a number of
aeons she makes offerings to the Buddha of that world system, whose name was
Tonyo Drupa. She receives special instruction from him concerning bodhicitta —
the heart-mind of a bodhisattva. After doing this, some monks approach her and
suggest that because of her level of attainment she should next pray to be
reborn as a male to progress further. At this point she lets the monks know in
no uncertain terms that from the point of view of Enlightenment it is only
"weak minded worldlings" who see gender as a barrier to attaining
enlightenment. She sadly notes there have been few who wish to work for the
welfare of beings in a female form, though. Therefore she resolves to always be
reborn as a female bodhisattva, until samsara is no more. She then stays in a
palace in a state of meditation for some ten million years, and the power of
this practice releases tens of millions of beings from suffering. As a result
of this, Tonyo Drupa tells her she will henceforth manifest supreme bodhi as
the Goddess Tārā in many world systems to come.
With this story in mind, it is interesting to juxtapose this
with a quotation from H.H the Dalai Lama about Tārā, spoken at a conference on
Compassionate Action in Newport Beach, CA in 1989:
There is a true feminist movement in Buddhism that relates
to the goddess Tārā. Following her cultivation of bodhicitta, the bodhisattva's
motivation, she looked upon the situation of those striving towards full
awakening and she felt that there were too few people who attained Buddhahood
as women. So she vowed, "I have developed bodhicitta as a woman. For all
my lifetimes along the path I vow to be born as a woman, and in my final
lifetime when I attain Buddhahood, then, too, I will be a woman."
Tārā, then, embodies certain ideals which make her
attractive to women practitioners, and her emergence as a Bodhisattva can be
seen as a part of Mahayana Buddhism's reaching out to women, and becoming more
inclusive even in 6th century C.E. India.
Tārā also embodies many of the qualities of feminine
principle. She is known as the Mother of Mercy and Compassion. She is the
source, the female aspect of the universe, which gives birth to warmth,
compassion and relief from bad karma as experienced by ordinary beings in
cyclic existence. She engenders, nourishes, smiles at the vitality of creation,
and has sympathy for all beings as a mother does for her children. As Green
Tārā she offers succor and protection from all the unfortunate circumstances
one can encounter within the samsaric world. As White Tārā she expresses
maternal compassion and offers healing to beings who are hurt or wounded,
either physically or psychically. As Red Tārā she teaches discriminating
awareness about created phenomena, and how to turn raw desire into compassion
and love. As Blue Tārā (Ekajati) she becomes a protector in the Nyingma
lineage, who expresses a ferocious, wrathful, female energy whose invocation
destroys all Dharmic obstacles and engenders good luck and swift spiritual
awakening.[5]
Within Tibetan Buddhism, she has 21 major forms in all, each
tied to a certain color and energy. And each offers some feminine attribute, of
ultimate benefit to the spiritual aspirant who asks for her assistance.
Another quality of feminine principle which she shares with
the dakinis is playfulness. As John Blofeld expands upon in Bodhisattva of
Compassion,[9] Tārā is frequently depicted as a young sixteen year old girlish
woman. She oftens manifests in the lives of dharma practitioners when they take
themselves, or spiritual path too seriously. There are Tibetan tales in which
she laughs at self-righteousness, or plays pranks on those who lack reverence
for the feminine. In Magic Dance: The Display of the Self-Nature of the Five
Wisdom Dakinis,[10] Thinley Norbu explores this as "Playmind".
Applied to Tārā one could say that her playful mind can relieve ordinary minds
which become rigidly serious or tightly gripped by dualistic distinctions. She
takes delight in an open mind and a receptive heart then. For in this openness
and receptivity her blessings can naturally unfold and her energies can quicken
the aspirants spiritual development.
These qualities of feminine principle then, found an
expression in Indian Mahayana Buddhism and the emerging Vajrayana of Tibet, as
the many forms of Tārā, as dakinis, as Prajnaparamita, and as many other local
and specialized feminine divinities. As the worship of Tārā developed, various
prayers, chants and mantras became associated with her. These came out of a
felt devotional need, and from her inspiration causing spiritual masters to
compose and set down sadhanas, or tantric meditation practices. Two ways of
approach to her began to emerge. In one common folk and lay practitioners would
simply directly appeal to her to ease some of the travails of worldly life. In
the second, she became a Tantric deity whose practice would be used by monks or
tantric yogis in order to develop her qualities in themselves, ultimately
leading through her to the source of her qualities, which are Enlightenment,
Enlightened Compassion, and Enlightened Mind.Sadhanas in which Tārā is the
yidam (meditational deity) can be extensive or quite brief. Most all of them
include some introductory praises or homages to invoke her presence and prayers
of taking refuge. Then her mantra is recited, followed by a visualization of
her, perhaps more mantra, then the visualization is dissolved, followed by a
dedication of the merit from doing the practice. Additionally there may be
extra prayers of aspirations, and a long life prayer for the Lama who
originated the practice. Many of the Tārā sadhanas are seen as beginning
practices within the world of Vajrayana Buddhism, however what is taking place
during the visualization of the deity actually invokes some of the most sublime
teachings of all Buddhism. Two examples are Zabtik_Drolchok [13] and Chime
Pakme Nyingtik [14].
In this case during the creation phase of Tārā as a yidam,
she is seen as having as much reality as any other phenomena apprehended
through the mind. By reciting her mantra and visualizing her form in front, or
on the head of the adept, one is opening to her energies of compassion and
wisdom. After a period of time the practitioner shares in some of these
qualities, becomes imbued with her being and all it represents. At the same
time all of this is seen as coming out of Emptiness and having a translucent
quality like a rainbow. Then many times there is a visualization of oneself as
Tārā. One simultaneously becomes inseparable from all her good qualities while
at the same time realizing the emptiness of the visualization of oneself as the
yidam and also the emptiness of one's ordinary self.
This occurs in the completion stage of the practice. One
dissolves the created deity form and at the same time also realizes how much of
what we call the "self" is a creation of the mind, and has no long
term substantial inherent existence. This part of the practice then is
preparing the practitioner to be able to confront the dissolution of one's self
at death and ultimately be able to approach through various stages of
meditation upon emptiness, the realization of Ultimate Truth as a vast display
of Emptiness and Luminosity. At the same time the recitation of the mantra has
been invoking Tārā's energy through its Sanskrit seed syllables and this
purifies and activates certain psychic centers of the body (chakras). This also
untangles knots of psychic energy which have hindered the practitioner from
developing a Vajra body, which is necessary to be able to progress to more
advanced practices and deeper stages of realization.
Therefore even in a simple Tārā sadhana a plethora of outer, inner, and secret events is
taking place and there are now many works such as Deity Yoga, compiled by the
present Dalai Lama,[15] which explores all the ramifications of working with a
yidam in Tantric practices.
The end results of doing such Tārā practices are many. For
one thing it reduces the forces of delusion in the forms of negative karma,
sickness, afflictions of kleshas, and other obstacles and obscurations.
The mantra helps
generate Bodhicitta within the heart of the practitioner and purifies the
psychic channels (nadis) within the body allowing a more natural expression
of generosity and compassion to flow from the heart center. Through
experiencing Tārā's perfected form one acknowledges one's own perfected form,
that is one's intrinsic Buddha nature, which is usually covered over by
obscurations and clinging to dualistic phenomena as being inherently real and
permanent.
The practice then weans one away from a coarse understanding
of Reality, allowing one to get in touch with inner qualities similar to those
of a bodhisattva, and prepares one's inner self to embrace finer spiritual
energies, which can lead to more subtle and profound realizations of the
Emptiness of phenomena and self.
As Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, in his Introduction to the Red
Tārā Sadhana,[16] notes of his lineage: "Tārā is the flawless expression
of the inseparability of emptiness, awareness and compassion. Just as you use a
mirror to see your face, Tārā meditation is a means of seeing the true face of
your mind, devoid of any trace of delusion".
Tara occupies a
unique status in that she has mythological origins as a goddess, as a
bodhisattva and is also frequently viewed as a Buddha.
Karma Ozer, an
ordained monk and student of HH Karmapa says:
In all her forms she is the perfect body speech and mind,
activities peace[ful] and powerful. ... in all her colors she reflects the 5
Buddha families and the Kayas. Within [this] one practice we can realize all
the blessings, according to our method we will experience the complete
result. ... . ... . ... all the Buddhas
and Bodhisattvas are the pure reflection of the Buddha nature, so we can try
not to get fixated on the external [forms] but instead through the practice try
to realize this aspect of our own Buddha nature through transforming the way we
view ordinary reality and experiences.
Origin of the Cult of
Tara
The view that the divine bodhisattva known by the name Tara
assimilates the various characteristics and qualities of several goddesses of the
Himalayan regions, from tribal snake deities to the great Shakti of Hinduism,
and of other goddesses from farther afield, is not a novel one.
Whether this opinion is due to the somewhat outmoded idea of
the archetype, or due to cultural drift and diffusion, or to people's general
inability to keep specific details in mind is not really important. What is significant and valuable is the
profound devotion that people have for Tara and the genuine efficacy of her practice. In times of great difficulty, millions of
people call upon "Great Noble Tara."
Not every one agrees on how she should be depicted, however,
and perhaps that in itself is significant.
Stephen Beyer, in The Cult of Tara, reported that until some very
experienced Tibetan artists were shown the details of the 21 Taras as
illustrated in foreign texts, they often did not know or could not recall which
colours, gestures and symbolic items belonged together. Also there seem to be waves of popularity for
different lineage teachings of her practice, some claiming origin with one or
another famous teacher of the past and others none at all. That is, some versions of her ritual worship
[Skt.: sadhana] or practice are regarded as termas -- tantric texts revealed or
uncovered by gifted individuals under extraordinary circumstances.
When her cult developed exactly is unknown. The Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang, who visited
northern India between 633 and 645, reports without describing, a Tolo image in
a temple near Nalanda Buddhist University to which the general population was
particularly devoted.
Her Name
The Sanskrit root târ-means "to traverse" or
"cross over" as in using a bridge to ford a stream. In the orthodox Indian sacred tradition, Târâ
refers to the second of Ten Means to
Realization. And as Shri Tara Devi she is the deification of that Mahavidya,
according to Hindu tantra. As a Târîni, she carries you across; she serves as a bridge for you to get to
immortality. But the root tar- can mean "tree," and
"particularly," and it is also related to "star" and to
"pupil of the eye."
In Tibetan, she is called Dolma or Do'ma, though often we
see Drolma because it follows the Tibetan spelling (a little more; if we
transliterate, it is actually sgrolma.)
More than one Tara?
Two Wives
Often people say that White Tara and Green Tara (the two
most distinctly different and popular forms of her) derive from Tritseun,
(a.k.a. Birkuti, Belsa) the Nepali wife and Wen-ch'eng (Tib. Gyasa,) the
Chinese wife, of Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo (ca. 617 - 650 CE,) though
opinions sometimes differ as to which queen is which Tara.
Beyer, who explored the works of scholars such as
Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Snellgrove and Lessing, agrees that to pair Green Tara,
because she has a dark complexion with the noblewoman from Nepal is ignorant,
if not a case of bigoted "ethnological expectation."
One of the most widely diffused of her tantric manuals is
known as Tara of the Acacia Grove, ie. the Khadira Forest, and Nepal is
certainly well known for its dark green rain forest called terai. This lends support for those who think that
Green Tara must represent the Nepalese woman.
However, Nepal is also the direction from which reading and writing, not
to mention the dharma itself, came -- attributes more of White Tara. That opinion, that the Nepali woman is the
model for White Tara, is the views of Waddell and Grundwedel.
Buton [Buston], the great Tibetan authority does not mention
the "wives idea" at all; Kunga Dorje, author of the Red Annals says
rather that the Chinese wife was an incarnation of Tara (non-specific) but that
the Nepalese goddess Bhirkuti assumed the form of the other.
Green Tara
In Tibetan culture, and some others, green is considered to
include all the other colors.Tara is typically pictured as a dark,
green-skinned girl of 16. She usually
wears striped leggings but above, only her shoulders are covered. She wears the many characteristic ornaments
of the samboghakaya.Green Tara has her right foot extended as if about to rise.
Her left hand, in the gesture of granting refuge holds the stem of a blue water
lily or utpala that waves over her left shoulder while her right hand also
holding a flower, offers that which we desire, a boon. According to the first
Dalai Lama (1391-1474,) her hands with their blue utpalas signal,
"Samsaric beings! Cling not to worldly pleasures. Enter the great city of liberation! Flower-goads prodding us to effort. Homage to you!"
The practice of Green Tara helps to overcome fear and
anxiety, but devotees also believe that she can grant wishes, eliminate
suffering of all kinds and bring happiness. When called upon, she
instantaneously saves us from eight specific calamities. The First Dalai Lama
lists the 8, and interprets them as representative of corresponding defects,
flaws, or obscurations:
1) lions and pride
2) wild elephants and delusions
3) forest fires and hatred
4) snakes and envy
5) robbers and fanatical views
6) prisons and avarice
7) floods and lust
8) demons and doubt
Relation to Amitabha
It is said that, despite his having taken a vow before
Amitabha Buddha to enable everyone without exception achieve liberation from
the endless round of rebirth, Chenrezi
became so discouraged at the untold numbers of sentient beings that he began to
cry. From his tear was formed Tara.
In the words of Nargarjuna: " Compassionate One who
saves from samsara! Goddess born of the tears of the Lotus-bearer, by the power
of the vow of Amitabha; most loving one who strives for the benefit of others
... I cannot describe your infinite
virtues ... ."
The 21 Praises to Tara says 'On the face of Chenrezi, she is
born from a tear as a bud from a lotus' or "born from the opening corolla
of the lotus face of the Lord of the triple world."
A different account is that, while Chenrezig emerged from
one of the eyes of compassionate Buddha Amitabha, Tara came from the other. In her iconography, the association with the
red Buddha, Amitabha, is usually indicated by a tiny image of him in her topknot.
There is a different tradition in which she is a Buddha, the
consort of Amoghasiddhi.
In yet another, she is called Mother of the Buddhas and as
such, resembles in many ways the Great Goddess of India. Tara of Harmony of
Turquoise Leaves, whose utpala is depicted in 3 stages: Explanation & benefits as explained by HH
Chogye Trichen Rinpoche
White Tara
She is distinguished by "her body . . . white, as an
autumn moon; clear as a stainless crystal gem, radiating light. She has one face, two hands, three eyes. She is described in manuals as having
"the youth of 16 years" but is often depicted as more full-bodied
than Green Tara. Her right hand makes
the gift-bestowing gesture, and with the thumb and ring finger of her left hand
she holds a branch of white utpala, its petals level with her ear.
There are three flowers in various stages of growth
symbolizing the three times (past, present and future.) The first bloom that is
in seed, usually on the right, stands for Buddha Kashyapa who lived in a past
eon; the second in first bloom stands for the historical Buddha Shakyamuni,
whose activity has brought you here today, and the bud on the left symbolizes
future buddhas -- the expected one is Maitreya Buddha.
Her hair is dark blue, bound up at the back of her neck at
the back with long tresses hanging down; her breasts are full; she is adorned
with divers precious ornaments, her blouse is of vari-colored silk, and her
robes are of red silk, the palms of her hand and the soles of her feet each
have an eye, making up the seven eyes of knowledge; she sits straight and firm
upon the circle of the moon, her legs crossed in the diamond posture." the reader that in a Buddhist sadhana, the
practitioner is not really worshipping a goddess since the image is his or her own self
imagined as a deity.
White Tara is referred to as "Mother of all the
Buddhas." This is because she
embodies the motivation that is compassion.
Her whiteness "Radiant as the eternal snows in all their
glory" is indicative of the selflessness -- the purity -- of this
compassion but especially the undifferentiated Truth of the Dharma.
Her seven eyes stand for her perception of suffering that is
apparent (the two we normally have,) that is psychological/spiritual (the one
in her forehead,) and that is inherent in activity (in her palms,) and in what
is usually considered as progress (in her soles.)
The mantra for White
Tara is
OM. TARE TUTARE TURE.
MAMA AYUR PUNYE JNANA PUSHTIM KURU, SWAHA
Ohm, Tahray Tootahray tooray, mahmah ahyoor poonyay jnyana
pushtim kuru[-ye], Swahhah
Tibetans say: OM TARE
TUTTARE TURE, MAMA AYUR JANA PUNTIN KURU SOHA
This is a request for increase in longevity, merit and
wisdom.
Yellow Tara
The Tara cult assimilates many forms into one: The Supreme Tantra of Tara the Yogini: Source
for All Rituals says in referring to aspects of the visualization: "By a
green wheel, one is protected; one cheats death with a white one." The wheel in this case serves as a metonymy
for the activity of one single deity. Buddhaguyha says that Tara's green colour
is the result of the mixing of white, yellow and blue standing for pacifying,
increasing and destroying respectively.
That means that Green Tara practice incorporates that of White Tara and
of all the others, including that of golden goddess of wealth, Vasundhara (Tib.
Norgyun, Norgyuma). Depending upon how
the initial letter is pronounced in the Indian languages, the name of Yellow
Tara is variously transliterated: Basundhara
Vasundhara, Yasundhara. Basudarini is a variant emphasizing her
femininity, ie. Norguuma in
Tibetan. Vasudhara is the consort of
Vaisharavana the protector of the northern direction, who is considered the
same as Kubera or Jambhala.)
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE PUSHTIM KURU OM is a version of her
mantra.
She is related to Hindu great goddess Lakshmi, and her
Sanskrit name Vasundhara indicates she is the source of the eight
"bountiful Vasus." Therefore,
according to the epic Mahabharat, she is the bounty that is the waters of the
river Ganges -- the goddess, Ganga whose origin is the snows of the Himalayas.
Tara of Many Colours
'Some have a vision of you (Tara) as red as the sun with
rays more brilliant and red than lac and vermilion. Others see you blue like the sapphire. Some again see you whiter than the milk
churned out of the milky ocean. Still
others see you golden. Your vishva-rupa
is like a crystal which changes its color with the change of the things around
it.'
Om, Shri Vasudhara ratna nidhana kashetri, swaha is the
mantra associated with this particular form of Tara.
Ritro Loma Chen
An emanation of Tara that is golden, with three faces and
six arms. Her power helps overcome
plagues and epidemics, and illnesses new to the world. Those who suffer from incurable conditions
can still benefit from her blessings.
Desimilation
In a woven-thread ritual, some other colors for
Tara/Yasundhara -- Tara viewed as Holder of the Flask -- are: orange, reddish
black and black. So we see that the
Tara cult also de-similates her into a wide variety of forms.
For instance, there is a Blue Tara in the form of a She-wolf
usually depicted with her head turned towards her tail. The mantra associated with this practice,
like some few others, is considered especially powerful and, according to the
Venerable Kamtrul Rinpoche presents real danger to those unequipped to handle
it.
Dark Blue
There is an Indian temple to Ugra [wrathful] Tara in
Kathmandu, Nepal. Situated in the Asan
tole (Assamese quarter,) today people go there wishing to cure diseases of the
eye.
Also, in Uzan Bazaar in the eastern part of Guwahati (Assam,
India,) one of the 52 peethas or places where Hindus believe parts of Shiva's
wife's body fell to earth, is another temple honouring Wrathful Tara. Constructed in 1725 by Rajah Shiv Singh, it
was meant to serve as a Shakta place of worship. But it may be that the 18th-century king was
looking for traces of an older site, for 3 years earlier he had excavated the
tank called Jorepukhuri that lies east of the temple. Though not generally considered a Buddhist
shrine, who can say what lies beneath the current structure (rebuilt after a
20th-century earthquake) ?
According to the "Hindu" Yogini Tantra: "Tara
is the same as Kali, the embodiment of supreme love. So also is Kamakhya. In thinking of them as different from Kali,
one would go to hell."
Black Tara
There are several "Black" Taras invoked by
Buddhists:
The Terrifier (Jigjema, Skt. Bhairava): brownish-black with
tinges of red. She is "Victorious Over the Three Worlds." She subdues
evil spirits and cures any illness caused by them.
The Invincible (Shen.gyi.mi.tub.ma) "Crushes the Forces
of Others" is black. She causes
your acts, intentions and aspirations to be invincible.
The Conqueror of Opponents (Shen.le Nam.par Gyel.ma) is
red/black. "Pulverizer of the
Maras," she nullifies the influences of any who oppose one's spiritual
aspirations.
The Drikung Kagyu Four-Armed Red Arya Tara is less common.
Her activity
is described as "overpowering" in the sense of
overcoming obstacles.
Orange Tara
As The Liberator, she is believed to be able to free
prisoners and those confined in other ways.
This "freeing" extends to her efficacy in helping with childbirth.
Protector
There are a multitude of Tara rituals: to "bind
thieves," to protect against slander, and to heal via her mantra and
seed-syllable [Skt.: bhija] TAM. Beyer
has in his book, an image of Tara who protects against yak-goring.
Tara's practice is also used in the making of special
medicinal pills, thread-cross mandalas [in other cultures known as God's eyes]
and other woven mandalas already mentioned that are charms to be carried on the
person. The writings of the great
Nagarjuna include the formula for the preparation of a protective Tara mandala
to be inscribed on bark.
Images of Tara are sometimes reported to manifest
mysteriously on bone and in stone, among other substances. Without considering the color, Green Tara is
distinguishable from White Tara in that she has two arms, and her right foot is
advanced as if she were about to rise from her seat.
Origin of the Ritual Practice of Tara
It is generally agreed that it was not until Atisha arrived
in Tibet in 1042 that her cult was introduced.
He claimed that it was Tara who prophesied that his life would be
shortened by his going to Tibet, but that he would, by undertaking that duty to
the dharma, greatly benefit beings and one devotee in particular. That person was Dromton [or bromton] who
built a temple to Tara that was standing at Nyetang at least until the late 1970's.
All information above sourced from Google.
The Tara Goddess mantras and dedicated practices continue to
invoke here blessings. Especially women request her blessings for empowering
self, to break open blocks and hurdles in life, to attain their best self form
and to gain love and respect in this life. To give self love a priority and to
take care of duties and responsibilities with zest and zeal. There is actually no
right way, there is just simple clear heart and pure dedication towards your
soul purpose.
Rizwana Mundewadi, Your's The Red Pilgrim Wishing You
All The Best!
a
professional symbolist painter, healing artist since year 2000 making spiritual symbol art to spread Reiki energy for personal power activation, self empowerment, soul healing, family blessings and Joy with world through my Reiki
symbol healing paintings! Reiki paintings for Abundant Life
Read more-
Meaning and Symbolism of
Reiki Abundance
How to Understand
symbolism in Art
Dark blue walls
Floral Paintings
symbolism
White walls are not
elegant, symbolism of white walls
How to write Om symbol correctly
