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| dTam | |||
Green Tara &
the Air-Element  This old Tibetan thangka
painting of the 8-armed Green Tara (the 8 arms
symbolize her 8 various magical siddhis or wisdom powers) shows Tara being surrounded by 20 other Tara deities
(21 female wisdom activities of
enlightenment). The original mandala of
wrathful Green Tara is inhabited by other deities than shown above. Tara
is also called the 'Quick Heroine' and can take many magical forms to
fulfill various spontanious wisdom activities. Beside identifications
during meditation she is also active as a so-called 'protector
deity'. The above shown 8-armed form of
Tara stems from a very rare tantra lineage, still kept alive in some
Tibetan-Nepalese traditions. The tantra belongs to the highest Buddhist
tantra group, the Anuttara Tantra. In contrast to the 'peaceful-only'
White Tara with her symbol of a snow-white upala, Green Tara's main
attributes are the lightblue upala-flowers (paeonia). The lightblue color of this flower
signalizes the potential that this basically peaceful deity 'can' change
into wrathful, when a dangerous situation occurs. Also her head-aura is
painted lightblue. Her main 2 hands are in the gesture of granting help
and fearlessness. Her right foot outside the lotos shows her
continous readiness to interact with all kinds of karmic hindrances. The
main intention of Green Tara is to avoid negative karma and to free
oneself from old karmic bondages, reaching enlightenment for oneself and
for the sake of all sentient beings as quick as possible.
Her seed-syllable (basic sound)
is dTam and her
short mantra is OM TARE TUTARE TURE
SOHA. Besides Karmadrikh and Vishvapani
(two male bodhisattva-forms of Buddha
Amoghasiddhi) she is the most popular
bodhisattva (enlightened being) of the air-element or 'Karma-Family' (Buddha Amoghasiddhi).
In older times this element (family) was also named Sword (Khadga), Wisdom (Prajna) or Double-Cepter
(Vishva)
family. The air-element (color green) tries to unite and
interact between all other elements and realms (from gods to demons to ghosts to animals etc.). Thereby it is the basis and basic spirit of all mandalas
(circle of unity).
All Buddhist mandalas are seated on a so-called 'vishva' or
'double-dorje', symbolizing the unity and interaction between the elements
(see animated logo beside). The vishva and the sword of wisdom-activity (khadga) are the main symbols of
the 'Karma-Family'. The seed-syllable of the air-element in general is the
green HA. The
direction is the North and the realm are the manifold worlds of the
powerful demi-gods and titans. In many aspects the
characteristics of the Buddhist understanding of the air-element and the
understanding from the viewpoint of Western astrology are identical. In
Western astrology the air-element is symbolized by the quick thinking,
spontaneous, harmony-seeking and magical powerful zodiac signs libra,
aquarius and gemini and there planetary equivalents Venus, Uranus and
Mercury. The esoteric wisdom aspect of Venus could be seen as a Green Tara
archetype. Some results of taking Green
Tara as a main object of meditation are: spontaneity, quick thinking,
quick acting, magical perfections, fearlessness and the wisdom-based wish
to help others as good and effective as possible. - One of my main
teachers, Kalu
Rinpoche, was secretly honored as an emanation of Green
Tara.
*.Click for image enlargement *.Click here for Hans receiving.this special initiation *.Click here for Damtzig Dorje.(Amoghasiddhi) *.Click here for peaceful.2-armed Green Tara *.Click here for.Vishvapani | |||
| 18th
century painting (from unknown thangka collection)
Click Image for Enlargement |
