Tara of All Colours: Wrathful, Peaceful and Everything In-Between

 

Tara can manifest in myriad—literally endless—forms, suited to the need of the practitioner. Iconographically, She can appear in any color. Famously, She is Green Tara, the saviors—and the chief manifestation of Tara. She is equally known as White Tara, the Goddess of Long Life and Healing.

She can be Ugra Tara, the Black Tara, who is the secret Mantra emanation—the very source of All, since sound (or frequencies) are often considered the source of manifestation in some Budhdist and Hindu beliefs.

Red Tara enjoys much love for her passionate role as the magnetizing Tara, who attracts and who helps beings with the power of positive attraction.

Yellow Tara helps those struggling with poverty, or just to help provide the resources to help other sentient beings. In higher Tantric practices Tara can manifest in the body mandala as simultaneous multi-coloured Taras at each of the body’s chakras.

Tara Does What?

Although all Buddhas and enlightened beings have the same realizations, the first question from people newly introduced to Tara, or any deity, is often “What does She do?”

What does Tara do? “Does” is a relative term. Relatively, She is wisdom in action. She is compassion in action. Tara is the penultimate combination of both wisdom and compassion. Ultimately, She is Wisdom realizing emptiness. Relatively, She is the ultimate action hero—means and method. Her names include “Swift Heroine,” which describes Her perfectly.

With Tara, Wisdom and Compassion are perfectly combined.

She is swift like the wind. Her green color is representative of the swift, active wind element, fearlessness, and imperturbable wisdom—very much a reflection of Her male consort, Amoghasiddhi. Also, without contradiction, often Tara is seen as the consort of other male Buddhas. She can also be thought of as the female aspect of Avalokitesvara (Chenrezig).

Tara – The Female Buddha

Tara is actually the perfection of wisdom, and she is the mother of all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Shravakas, and Pratyeka Buddhas. This wisdom is actually beyond any forms or signs or descriptions. But out of great compassion, in order to help sentient beings, she appears in a physical form that is the Tara. The word Tara means “Saviour” or “One Who Saves”.

Why Tara is called as the female Buddha?

There are male and female Buddhas just as there are male and female people. There are many female Buddhas, not just Tara and Vajrayogini; there are so many female deities! For some people, it is much easier to practice female deities. 

It depends on one’s own karmic connections. For some, female deities are more suited, and for others, male deities are more suited. Although is it said, in terms of their wisdom, compassion, and power, that all deities are the same, but due to their motherly figure, it is easier to invoke the blessing of female deities.

Why is Tara in particularly regarded for her compassion?

Basically, all the deities are the nature of compassion and emptiness, but Tara is special in two ways: firstly, she is in the motherly figure, and secondly, she is an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, the manifestation of all the Buddhas’ compassion. Therefore, there is a particular connection between compassion and Tara.

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Please help us and to develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you, but to all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us to enhance our work and to accomplish for a better and brighter prospect to come. 

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Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.

Why Praises of The Twenty-one Taras?

Refuge and Bodhichitta to the Arya Taras 

Namo kon chok kun ngo jet sun mar,

Dag sog dro kun kyap su chi,

Jang chup mon pei sim kye neh,

Zap moy lam la juk par gyl.

Om Jet Sun Mar, Phagma dromala chhag-tshal lo 

(Om Homage to the Venerable Arya Tara)

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA. 

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA. 

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA.

The practice of Tara is said to have many different extraordinary powers of blessing, and is particularly effective in a wide variety of situations. For example, it is said that at the end of an aeon or cycle of time, when hardships and calamities may increase, the mantra and puja rituals of Tara are very crucial. Anyone can recite the prayers of Tara and it brings great benefit.

The Buddha Mahavairochana was the Guru, the spiritual guide, of Tara. Buddha Vairochana blessed Tara and prophesied to her that at the end of the aeon, in those lands and worlds where pujas, prayers, and rituals of Tara are recited, as a result of these prayers, the many diseases, troubles, and disturbances caused by evil spirits and by human beings would be pacified and resolved. I believe that the practice of Tara is one the most important and critical of all practices in such times.

The prayers of Tara, is said that not only diseases and disturbances caused by evil spirits, but also hostility, wars, conflicts and the eight obscurations and sufferings may as well be pacified and resolved by the power of her practice. 

The eight obscurations and sufferings that listed by the First Dalai Lama as follows:-

• The suffering of hatred, which symbolize like the fire,
• The suffering of ignorance, which symbolize like a elephant,
• The suffering of jealousy, which symbolize like a snake,
• The suffering of pride, which symbolize like a lion,
• The suffering of miserliness, which symbolize like a chain,
• The suffering of wrong view, which symbolize like a thief,
• The suffering of doubt, which symbolize like a spirit,
• The suffering of lust/attachment, which symbolize like the floods

All such obstacles and related difficulties can be removed through the blessing of the prayers and mantras of these goddesses.  It is said that these puja prayer rituals and mantra recitations are particularly important when we come to the end of an age or cycle of time. For such times, is widely recommended the practices of Guru Rinpoche, praises of Taras are also extremely important.

In times of the threat of wars, epidemics, conflict, and so on, it is very important that the mantras of Tara be put on prayer flags and hung in the air, as much as people are able to do this. People from all walks of life should do this and say this mantra as much as possible. Along with the prayers of Guru Rinpoche, these practices are the most effective in such times and situations.

One who offers praises to Tara is truly intellectual. Whether early in the morning or late at night, if one offers the praises to the twenty-one Taras, such as offering two, three, and then seven repetitions of the prayer, totaling twelve recitations of the praises to the twenty-one Taras, all wishes can be fulfilled. This is how it is in the Four Mandalas' Ritual of Holy Tara "The Illuminating Lamp". In this puja one repeats the praise twice, then three times, then seven times.

When it is said that all one's wishes will be fulfilled, it means that if you need a child, you'll get one. If you have financial needs, these will be met. Whatever wishes you have, all of them can be fulfilled through praises to Tara.

You only need to recite and practice it, in order to dispel your obstacles. All of your obstacles and difficulties, however many there are, can all be removed and relieved through offering praises to Tara. Through praying to Tara, all potential obstacles are powerless to cause you harm; they are naturally pacified. Nothing can get to you or harm you in any way; you become impossible to pass through.

Certain practices have that strongly emphasized. For Green Tara practice that is the reason why you are not supposed to be eating meat or drinking alcohol before you do the practice. For that reason those practices were tend to be done very early in the morning, before breakfast, before you eat anything , you do the Tara before, that’s the reason why it’s mostly done in the morning. But if you are a vegetarian, then you can do Tara practice any time, all day long, you don’t have to think that Tara should only be done in the morning. 

There is no doubt that Tara is very swift in dispelling obstacles. All the activities of the Buddhas are embodied in Tara, contained in her, complete in her. If you have been empowered by your Guru or teacher to meditate yourself in the form of Green Tara. Your body, speech can be transformed into mantra, your thoughts into wisdom. You are no longer an ordinary being; your body, speech, and mind have been completely raised into the exalted state of Tara herself, into the form, mantra, and wisdom of Tara.

The words of the praises to the twenty-one Taras are not the intellectual composition of scholars. They are spoken directly by Buddha Mahavairochana and Buddha Shakyamuni themselves. Please recite the praise to Tara as much as you are able to in the course of your everyday life. 

If you are unable at any time to recite the praise, try to recite the mantra of Tara:-

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA.

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA.

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA.

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Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?  

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in the year 2008, we had been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 13 years.  We have exceptionally constrained supports and do not receive subsidized or funding from people in general. 

Please help us and to develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you, but to all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us to enhance our work and to accomplish for a better and brighter prospect to come. 

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the precious Buddha’s precious Dharma and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures.

Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.

No.18 Emanation of Taras - Maja Chenmo (18/21)

Photo credit : Alan Kozlowski

Praises to the Twenty-One Tara is a traditional prayer in Tibetan Buddhism to the female Bodhisattva Tara. (Tibetan called Drolma) also known as Arya Tara or Jetsun Dolma. The prayer is found in all four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.  

Each of the twenty-one emanations of Tara has her own name, and a specific mantra with which she is associated, offering protection from various types of fears, harm, and calamities.

Tara has Twenty-One ultimate emanations according to the mantra of the Buddha Samantabhadra called “Twenty-One Praises of Tara”. Twenty-One Tara with 21 specific colors serves with a specific function. 

There are different styles and designs of tangka paintings that represent the Twenty-One manifestations of Tara based on distinct lineages and practices, in which forms, colors, ritual objects and even names or functions can vary. 

Homage to The No.18 Taras - Maja Chenmo

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SARVA VISHA TARA PHAT SVAHA

Great Peacock, Protecting from and Pacifying All Kinds of Poison

Maja Chenmo is peaceful and white in color. She protects from poison. Upon her utpala flower is a full moon marked with a rabbit. From this, the rays of nectar light radiate, spreading in all directions and completely removing all poisons from the environment and sentient beings. The moon symbolizes self-arisen wisdom that is free from increasing and decreasing, transition or change.

This emanation of no. 18 Tara's Tibetan name is Tara Maja Chenmo. Now Mayura is the Sanskrit word for "peacock," which is maja Irma ball in Tibetan, so she is the "great one of the peacock." Pea­cocks are especially associated with protection from poisons because it is said that the peacock eats poison and transforms it into the beauty of its plumage.

Thus Tara Maja Chenmo's special activity is counteracting or dispelling inner and outer poisons. These might be food, water, environmental pollution, or any type of unhealthy situation. Maja Chenmo is also renowned for her compassion in pro­tecting infants and young children.

There's a beautiful traditional story about Tara's role in the great Nagarjuna's 96 childhood. He was born into a rich, high-caste Brah­min family. As was traditional, after his birth the sign-reader came to read the baby's palm. 

He told Nagarjuna's parents that their son would surely die after one week unless they did certain practices on Tara Maj a Chenmo. Although they were Brahmins and didn't want to do this Buddhist practice, they agreed and the threat to Nagar­juna's life was averted for that time.

For Red Tara Kurukulle Dakini magnetized prayers, please visit my Buddhist YouTube channels as follows:

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When he was seven, his parents brought Nagarjuna to Nalanda University. At that time Nalanda was still quite a small university, with only a few temples and buildings. There he received initiation and transmission for the practice of Tara Maja Chenmo, realized it, and it is taught that he extended his life to over six hundred years.

Om Jetsunma pal ma drolma la chaktsal lo

Om Homage to the noble lady Tara

Chak tsal lha yi tso yi nam pe

Homage to you who holds in your hand

Ri dak tak chen chak na nam ma

A moon like a celestial lake

Ta ra nyi jo pe kyi yi ge

Saying TARA twice and the letter PHET

Duk nam ma lu par ni sel ma

You dispel all poisons without exception.

Prayer of the Benefits

Whoever is endowed with devotion for the goddess and recites this with supreme faith, remembering it at dawn upon waking and in the evenings, will be granted all fearlessness, will perfectly pacify all negativities, and will eliminate all unfortunate migrations.

The multitudes of conquerors will quickly grant initiation: Thus, endowed with this greatness, one will eventually reach the state of a Buddha. If affected by the most terrible poison, whether ingested, drunk, or from a living being, just by remembering will one be thoroughly cleansed.

If this prayer is recited two, three, or seven times, It will pacify all the sufferings of torments caused by spirits, fevers, and poisons, and by other beings as well. If you wish for a child, you will get a child; if you wish for wealth, you will receive wealth. All your wishes will be fulfilled and all obstacles pacified.  

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Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?  

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in the year 2008, we had been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 13 years.  We have exceptionally constrained supports and do not receive subsidized or funding from people in general. 

Please help us and to develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you, but to all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us to enhance our work and to accomplish for a better and brighter prospect to come. 

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.

The uncountable Benefits of Arya Tara Practice

The uncountable Benefits of Arya Tara Practice

In the new book The Power of Mantra: Vital Practices for Transformation, Lama Zopa Rinpoche guides students through understanding the power and benefit of mantras. Rinpoche explains many popular mantras, giving specific instructions for practicing them, including Shakyamuni Buddha, Chenrezig, Manjushri, Tara, Medicine Buddha, Vajrasattva, and more. In an excerpt from the chapter on Tara mantra, Rinpoche discusses Mother Tara.

The benefits of practicing Tara are uncountable. By reciting the Praises to the Twenty-One Taras with devotion, at dawn or dusk, and remembering Tara and reciting her mantra at any time of the day or night, we are protected from fear and danger, and all our wishes are fulfilled. If we pray to Tara, Tara will grant help quickly. 

She is especially quick in granting us success in obtaining the ultimate happiness of enlightenment, but there are also many temporal benefits of reciting the Tara mantra or the Praises of the Twenty-One Taras prayer. Tara can solve many problems in life: liberating us from untimely death, helping us recover from disease, bringing us success in business. 

Somebody with a serious problem, such as a life-threatening disease, who relies on Tara will very commonly be freed from that problem. For instance, His Holiness the Dalai Lama encouraged us to recite Tara’s mantra as a protection for ourselves and others against the coronavirus COVID-19.

Story with Mother Tara

Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo tells a story of one of his students who didn’t know much Dharma, but had faith in Tara and so received help from her, but not as much as he might have. One day during his journey to Mongolia, while walking along reciting Tara prayers, he heard a dog barking and saw a tent. Because he needed some water to quench his thirst, he went there, where he saw a young girl, alone, tending many yaks.

Seeing the monk was weak and hungry, she insisted he stay with her for a few days and she fed him. When it was time to leave, she gave him some tsampa and other food. Because he was completely lost, she gave him very explicit directions on how to get to his destination and, as he was leaving, she gave him a large bunch of grass. She explained that when he awoke each morning, he should drop some grass on the ground and head in whichever direction it fell.

He only had a little food, enough for a day or two, but each day, when he opened the sack, his food was never depleted. Following the directions the girl had given him, he managed to find his way to his destination. When he looked in his sack at the very end of his journey, there was not one speck of food left. He was so surprised by this that he sent a letter to his guru, Pabongka Rinpoche, in Lhasa.

Pabongka Rinpoche wrote back and said that it was a pity he hadn’t followed the girl’s instructions completely. If he had, he would have been in a pure realm already. That yak herder was a manifestation of Tara, but he was unable to see this. Tara manifests in many aspects, not just the green and white forms that are commonly depicted.

The best way we can become close to Tara, what pleases her the most, is when we fervently try to develop the mind of bodhichitta. The more we are able to practice Bodhichitta and cherish others more than ourselves, the closer we will be to Tara, and the easier it will be for her to offer us help quickly.

The Praises to the Twenty-One Taras begins, “I prostrate to the noble transcendent liberator.” That means that Tara herself is completely liberated from the whole of Samsara and the cause of Samsara through having completed the both the method and wisdom sides of the practice.

Not only that, by having overcome the two obscurations, gross and subtle, she is also free from being bound to lower nirvana. Liberated from both Samsara and the peace of lower nirvana means she is fully enlightened. And because she in turn liberates all of us, allowing us to attain full enlightenment, she is called Tara the Liberator, the mother who liberates.

For Arya Tara prayer mantra, please feel free to visit our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/mOr5qNWFR0s

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Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?  

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in the year 2008, we had been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 13 years.  We have exceptionally constrained supports and do not receive subsidized or funding from people in general. 

Please help us and to develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you, but to all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us to enhance our work and to accomplish for a better and brighter prospect to come. 

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.

Limitless Tara, Beyond the Green: Bodhisattva, Savior, Mother of all the Buddhas

Most Buddhists know Tara—simultaneously, a friend, savior, caring Bodhisattva and enlightened being.

She manifests in endless forms: she can be action-hero Green Tara who saves us from worldly harm; or blessed White Tara, who heals and brings longevity, to fierce protector Palden Lhamo, and she is also the great Wisdom Mother Prajnaparamita. Even though we honor her as the Great Mother Buddha, she is, without contradiction, an intimate and treasure friend. 

The Vastness of Tara: Beyond Definition, Friend to Everyone

Do we really comprehend the vastness that is Tara? She is one of the most popular devotional and meditational deities, honored all around the world, practiced by all schools of Vajrayana Buddhism, many Mahayana Buddhists, Hindus, and others.

She is so popular, she is called “Mama Tara”—and She never takes Herself seriously. She’s a daily good friend, ready helper, saving hero, precious guide. She always has “time” for everyone—after all, time is relative. She is just as quick to help the prisoner in jail as the faithful practitioner, without discrimination. If Her name is called, She answers.

Yet, Tara goes beyond any constraints of conception, and even imagination: Parajnaparamita, wisdom Dakini Varjayogini, Female Buddha, Consort of great Amoghasiddhi Dhyani Buddha, Hindu great mother, angel to those in distress — all of these and thousands more. There are 21 famous Tara manifestations, one of which is the beloved White Tara. In Vajrayana’s higher tantras she is Chittimani Tara and also, Vajrayogini (Vajra Varahi).

It can be confusing, Her endless labels, but at the same time it defines Her perfection. She is known by endless names, but consistently as Tara, Arya Tara, and, in Tibetan, Jetsun Drolma. She is simultaneously the spiritual child of Avalokiteshvara, born of tears of compassion, and the Mother of the very same Buddha. Mother and child of the same Enlightened Being. Simply meditating on the vastness of these concepts is, in itself, challenging and rewarding.

Her Practice Is as Simple or Complex as Tara

As with Her vast array of names, appearances and roles, Her practice can be simple or profound. She responds well to just the calling of Her name. Or a simple thought. Her ten-syllable mantra, chanted millions of times each day around the world, is associated with everything from rescues to achieving Enlightenment.

Simplified Sadhanas for the devout include Green Tara and White Tara practices that can be practiced with or without empowerment. As a practitioner progresses, Tara meditations can become more intense, with Highest Yoga Tantra practices such as Chittamani Tara. Even the famous 21 Taras, can be practiced simply—as a daily verse—or at the ultimate level, with 21 separate sadhanas and mantra

She can be practiced in the form of the great Black Dakini, Throma Nagmo, the wrathful form of Prajnaparamita—a Highest Yoga Practice (mana annut tantra). She can be practiced even without a name, just by simply imagining Her. There is, literally, a Tara, and a Tara practice, for everyone.

Dana (Donations for our Buddhist research and development) 

Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?  

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in the year 2008, we had been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 13 years.  We have exceptionally constrained supports and do not receive subsidized or funding from people in general. 

Please help us and to develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you, but to all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us to enhance our work and to accomplish for a better and brighter prospect to come. 

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.