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Tara
I've heard of a deity(not sure if that's the right word?) in Buddhism called Tara but have little idea who she is. Can anyone enlighten me?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_%28Buddhist%29
http://buddhism.about.com/od/artiisticheritage/a/Tara.htm
I'm sure others will be able to provide more.
metta
_/\_
P.S.- Just found a pretty good article:
http://www.answers.com/topic/tara-buddhism
Tara (Drolma in Tibetan) is a female fully enlightened Buddha. (yes, it is possible! - sorry) It is said Tara was born from the tear of Buddha Amitabha as he looked out at all the suffering in the world. Tara is a very popular deity throughout Asia. She is a Buddha of compassion, the action equivalent of Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who, it is said, was also born of a tear from Amitabha's eyes.
Another version of Tara's origin is that she was a young woman named Yeshe Dawa (Wisdom Moon) who lived in another world system millions of years ago. For lifetimes she practiced the Buddhism taught by the Buddha of that world, Tonyo Drupa, and over many lifetimes developed bodhicitta - the union of wisdom and compassion. Some monks took notice of her spiritual progress and approached her to suggest that in view of her excellent practice and progress she should pray to be reborn as a male so that she could attain full enlightenment, as it was believed that only in a male body could one attain enlightenment. Many believe that to be the case today, especially in Theravadan circles, and the Buddha actually makes that statement in one of the sutras (reference above wiseass comment). However, their suggestion did not sit well with Ms. Dawa. She replied that anyone who saw gender as a barrier to enlightenment was "weak-minded", and she vowed to prove them wrong. Not only did she do so, but she also vowed to always take rebirth as a female bodhisattva until samsara ceased to exist. And so she has done.
There are said to be 21 forms of Tara, each symbolizing one of her enlightened activities. Green Tara, one of the most popular forms, represents her enlightened activity. White Tara, the other most common form, represents compassion, long life, healing and serenity. She is the patron of prisoners (and we are all prisoners of negative habitual tendencies that keep us bound to the Wheel of Cyclic Existence). Red Tara is associated with her magnetizing abilities. And so forth. She appears in many forms in the physical world. Just as the Dalai Lama is considered an emanation of the male bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, my teacher is considered to be an emanation of Tara, White Tara, to be specific.
Her main mantra is OM TARA TUTTARE TURE SO HA.
Any more questions?
Palzang
Palzang
Palzang
Pal-san
BTW, it means "You don't say!" I always liked it because it's not a phrase gaijin are supposed to know, so I always got very weird looks whenever I said it!
Pal-san
WILLING TO BE A FOOL
There is lots of room to make mistakes. That's true, absolutely true. But such room for mistakes cannot be created unless there is surrendering, giving, some kind of opening. It cannot take place if there's no basis for it. However, if there is some basis - if we can give away our aggression or attempt to give it away, if we attempt to open up and strip away our territoriality and possessiveness - then there is lots of room for making mistakes. That doesn't necessarily mean there is room for dramatic mistakes, but lots of little dribbles of mistakes can take place, which usually occur in any case - we can't avoid it. We have to allow ourselves to realize that we are complete fools; otherwise, we have nowhere to begin. We have to be willing to be a fool and not always try to be a wise guy. We could almost say that being willing to be a fool is one of the first wisdoms.
--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Pal-San
Palzang
Palzang
Although modern Buddhism in the West tends to avoid much of the mythic, many of the Buddhisms have a whole collection of gods and suchlike. Today, we like to view these from an entirely human psychological point of view, convincing ourselves that the universe around us as pure;y mechanical, without an invisible world of powers with personalities. We choose to believe that gods, spirits, devas, etc. are simply narrative ways in which our (allegedly ignorant) ancestors made sense of natural phenomena.
Our ancestors were not convinced of this and, indeed, certain contemporary societies still hold to older beliefs.
When a society develops a set of beliefs about an invisible world, they will construct hierarchies and family trees to understand the connections between the unseen powers. If you look at the root myths of European society, most of which were codified by the Greeks, the family trees are vast and complex.
When society A, with its own myth structure, encounters Society B with a different one, there is often a sort of merging that goes on. Take the example of the Romans. They assimilated the Greek pantheon and called Zeus by the Etruscan name of Jove, Artemis became Diana, Aphrodite became Venus and so on.
In the same way, the ancient Tibetan deity Chenrezig, an "anthropomorphic personification" of compassion, became seen as the same 'person' as the Indian Avalokiteshvara. The names are now used interchangeably. The Chinese goddess Kwan Yin, who also personifies compassion, is assimilated to these two 'gods', despite gender difference.
The Taras are a particularly Tibetan story. They do not appear to have influenced the mythology of the Subcontinent to any great extent and certainly not as deeply as the influence exerted by Indian myth on the Tibetan. Tibetan mythology has a long pre-Buddhist history in the shamanistic Bon religion, which still exists alongside Buddhism.
There is an interesting process under way within the Buddhisms as they become westernised. An enormous volume of Buddhist writings, including the sutras as well as treatises, refer to deities and, even, 'old' gods such as Brahma, who is present at the Buddha's parinirvana. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few centuries. We can already find the Christian God-and-man Jesus referred to as a bodhisattva which is completely at odds with traditional Christian theology. Perhaps our ancient deities, like Sulis here in the Cotswolds, will reappear in a Buddhist guise.
I hope that clears things up a bit, Deb. Personally, being a belt-and-braces type of person, I am quite careful to offer courtesy to local beliefs. For example, I take off my shoes in temples and mosques, wear a yarmulke in synagogues and reverence the altar or the Blessed Sacrament in Christian churches. I also make small offerings if that is the custom. After all, despite apparent scientific certainties, we never know, do we!
(Bushinoki, I hope all is working out well for you...)
Everytime I come here (this site) I wonder what took me so long to stop in!
I need to sit at my computer every day and do this!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, to my point, when I first learned of Tara, I was enthralled! Maybe it's a female connection I am making, but I read everything I can on her.
I think I need to start that mantra....
My wallpaper of her is going back up on my screen!
Palzang
I don't know if you'll see this, but good luck with everything. Hope you return in good health & good spirits.
metta
_/\_