Green Tara - The Feng Shui Goddess

Tara, whose name means "star" or "she who ferries across," is a Bodhisattva of compassion who manifests in female form. In Tibetan, Tara is known as "Dölma" (Sgrol-ma), or "She Who Saves." In particular she represents compassion in action, since she’s in the process of stepping from her lotus throne in order to help sentient beings.

Tara is the most important female deity of the Buddhist pantheon. She is the mother goddess of compassion. Tara was born of a single tear of compassion shed by Avaloketishwara on seeing the sufferings of humanity. Tara is thought to have insisted that she remain in female form whilst functioning as a Bodhisatva, assisting all sentient being in overcoming difficulties on their road to enlightenment.

Tibetan Buddhism numbers 21 Taras, often featuring seven all-seeing eyes of compassion. Tara is believed to protect human beings while they are crossing the ocean of existence. Her right hand is in the blessing posture: boon giving position and left hand: is in teaching gesture/ holding a lotus. There are many different types of Tara. There is Red Tara, which is supposed to bring harmony, Black Tara which gives power, Blue Tara which is good for controlling anger, and the Yellow Tara which is associated with wealth and prosperity. Of course there are many more, but these are the most well known. Green Tara is associated with the Air Element. She embodies female wisdom as the "Swift Saviour" due to her readiness to protect us from negative forces and help us avoid negative karma. SHE IS THE OVERCOMER OF OBSTACLES. Worship of Green Tara is thought to bring quick thinking, spontaneity and wisdom in our actions, generosity, magical perfection and fearlessness. Her short mantra is:

Her regular icon shows her sitting on a lotus but with her right foot extended in readiness for speedy action. Her right hand is extended downwards in the position which grants accomplishment. Her left hand is shown with the thumb and the ring finger touching - the gesture for granting protection and freedom from fear. She has lotus flowers blooming at her shoulders.

Symbolic translation

The central part of Tara’s mantra is a loving play on her name. According to Sangharakshita, a traditional explanation of the mantra is that the variations of her name represent three progressive stages of salvation.

1. Tāre represents salvation from mundane dangers and suffering. Tara is seem as a savioress who can give aid from material threats such as floods, crime, wild animals, and traffic accidents. Tara is therefore said to protect against ordinary worldly dangers.

2. Tuttāre represents deliverance into the spiritual path conceived in terms of individual salvation. In traditional terms, this is the path of the Arhant, which leads to individual liberation from suffering. This is seen in Mahayana Buddhism as a kind of enlightenment in which compassion does not figure strongly. Tara therefore offers individual protection from the spiritual dangers of greed, hatred, and delusion: the three factors that cause us individual suffering.

3. Lastly, ture represents the culmination of the spiritual path in terms of deliverance into the altruistic path of universal salvation – the Bodhisattva path. In the Bodhisattva path we aspire for personal enlightenment, but we also connect compassionately with the sufferings of others, and strive to liberate them at the same time as we seek enlightenment ourselves. Tara therefore delivers us from a narrow conception of the spiritual life. She saves us from the notion that spiritual progress is about narrowly liberating ourselves from our own suffering, and instead leads us to see that true spiritual progress involves having compassion for others.

By the time we have been liberated from mundane dangers, liberated from a narrow conception of the spiritual path, and led to a realization of compassion, we have effectively become Tara. In Buddhist practice the “deities” represent our own inner potential. We are all potentially Tara. We can all become Tara.

Svaha, according to Monier Monier-William’s Sanskrit Dictionary, means: "Hail!", "Hail to!" or "May a blessing rest on!" We could see this final blessing as symbolizing the recognition that we are, ultimately, Tara.

Her mantra can therefore be rendered as something like "OM! Hail to Tara (in her three roles as a savioress)!" although this may one of those occasions when the mantra is best left untranslated, because the words have no “meaning” in the normal sense of the word. Instead they are more like a play on her name, like variations in a piece of music by Bach or like improvisations in a piece of jazz music.

Literal translation

There’s a more literal meaning of the mantra as well:

“Tare” is the vocative form of Tara, so it means “O Tara!”

“Tu” is an exclamation that can mean “pray! I beg, do, now, then,” and so “tuttare” could mean something like “I entreat you, O Tara” or “I beg you, O Tara.”

“Ture” is probably the vocative form of “tura,” which means “quick, willing, prompt,” and so it would mean something like “O swift one!”

So the mantra could be rendered as “OM! O Tara! I entreat you, O Tara! O swift one! Hail!

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