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As
for jewelry, beautiful golden, red and green jewels
adorn her. Her jewelry includes white bracelets,
several necklaces with many pendant gems, and
a multi stringed, long jewel chain that sinuously
falls around her body and over her right arm.
In
a heavenly mansion shaped by the artist of the
gods,
Inconceivable
celestial wish-granting gems,
Most beautiful,
wrought into fascinating ornaments,
Fully adorn you-homage
to you!
Like an emerald
mountain clothed in rainbows,
Your upper body
is draped in heavenly silks,
Your lovely supple,
slender waist supports
A skirt of five
bright colors-homage to you!
... First Dalai Lama (1391-1474)
The followers of Green Tara believe that her special powers will help overcome dangers, fears, and anxieties, and that she will grant wishes. She is also believed to help one cross over from danger to safety or from suffering to happiness. Her femininity imbues her with soft and compassionate feelings, and she acts very quickly and directly as a savioress. Representing active compassion, she is particularly worshipped for her ability to overcome the most difficult situations. As the first Dalai Lama puts it, just by being called to help, she instantaneously saves the faithful from attacks by the following eight calamities:
- lions and pride
- wild elephants and delusions
- forest fires and hatred
- snakes and envy
- robbers and fanatical views
- prisons and avarice
- floods and lust
- demons and doubts
White Tara
White Tara is often referred to as the Mother of all the Buddhas. She represents the motherly aspect of compassion. Her white colour indicates purity, but also indicates that she is Truth, complete and undifferentiated.
She has seven eyes: the two usual eyes, plus an eye in the centre of her forehead and eyes in each of her hands and feet. These indicate that she sees all suffering and all cries for help in the human world using both ordinary and psychic or extraordinary means of perception. They thus symbolize the vigilance of her compassion.
White
Tara has a lovely, young face. Her ornaments are
covered in jewels. Her silk robes and scarves
are painted in an exceptionally lively manner.
Her tight fitting garments are embossed with large,
rich floral designs. These filmy garments; bright
gauzy silks fluttering from the shoulders and
a series of many hued silken skirts- leave the
slender torso and smoothly rounded breasts uncovered
in the manner of ancient India. The whole effect
is so ravishing that she might well arouse the
very passion she is frequently invoked to calm,
were it not that she inspires the kind of exalted
reverence a palace guard might be expected to
feel for a young and lovely princess entrusted
to his care.
With her right hand she makes the boon granting gesture and her left hand, holding the stem of a white lotus flower between her thumb and fourth finger, is in the protection position.
The elaborate lotus flower, held in the left hand is called Utpala. It contains three blooms: the first, with seeds, symbolizes the past Buddha Kashyapa; the second in full flower, symbolizes the present Buddha Shakyamuni; and the third, ready to bloom, symbolizes the future Buddhas Maitreya. This signifies that White Tara is the essence of all the three Buddhas of the past, the present and the future.
She
sits with both legs raised and crossed in the
vajra (diamond) position and regally displays
both grace and calm.
Her incomparable beauty have inspired her worshippers to address her thus:
"Radiant
as the eternal snows in all their glory, homage
to the
Youthful One with
full breasts, One face and two arms. And is
filled with great
bliss"
... Unknown
White Tara is an emanation of
Tara who is connected with longevity. She
is also the special goddess who helps her
devotees overcome obstacles, particularly impediments
to the practice of religion.
Indeed in the vast expanse of Buddhist art the images of the two Taras with their feminine charm and sophisticated imagery represent a superior conception unparalleled in any other art tradition. Open to diverse interpretations both on the sensual and spiritual planes these two goddesses have inspired generations of devotee artists to achieve creative heights while adhering to the strict iconographical cannons laid down in the ancient texts, and in the process acquiring both spiritual merit and the boon of the Goddess.
