|
|
  |
Green Tara18” x 24” ◊ Ground mineral pigment on cotton cloth
According to the tantra, Tara was born eons ago, in an invisible universe. She was a very spiritual and compassionate woman who gave offerings and prayers to the Buddhas (enlightened beings), bodhisattvas (beings on the path to enlightenment), and ordained monks and nuns, every day for a thousand billion years. She developed great merit, and the monks told her that because of her spiritual attainments they would pray that she be reborn as a man and spread Buddhist teachings. She responded that there was no male and no female, and that nothing existed in reality, but that she wished to remain in female form to serve others until every being reached enlightenment. In art, Tara is usually depicted seated on a lotus, ready to descend to aid suffering beings. There are twenty-one forms of Tara. The one depicted here is Green Tara. Green Tara's special powers help overcome dangers, fears, and anxieties, and she can grant wishes. She will help one cross over from danger to safety or from suffering to happiness. The green colour of Green Tara's body signifies her association with the Transcendent Buddha of the North. This Buddha transmutes the poison of envy and turns it into the positive energy of all-accomplishing wisdom. Here, Green Tara is depicted in the pose of ease, with her right leg extended, signifying readiness to go into action, and the left folded in the contemplative position on the lotus pedestal. Green Tara holds the stem of a lotus flower in each hand. Her right hand is in the "varada" (gift bestowing) position. Her left hand is in the gesture of granting refuge in the "Three Jewels". Green Tara is invoked as a lamp in the darkness of unknowing, as the guide to realization amidst obstacles to enlightenment, as a welcome companion at the time of death, and as a refuge of light in the dark womb of rebirth. |
Tara, a female Buddha and meditational deity, is considered to be the goddess of universal compassion and the manifestation of all the actions of all Buddhas. Her name is derived from the Sanskrit root word tar (to cross over), meaning one who helps sentient beings to cross over the ocean of existence (samsara) from the impure state to one of perfect, pure enlightenment.