The Legend of Tara

Paths are many, the goal is one. Legends are many but the prime characters are usually the same. I became interested with the legend of Tara, the “Mother of Perfected Wisdom” or the “Mother of the Buddhas.” I was drawn to read more about Tara in the context of a religion like Buddhism that believes in the principles of chastity. With time, Buddhist traditions and legends slowly became more humane in their content and could not alienate themselves from the concept of a Cosmic Mother, and even a Cosmic Union between Avalokitesvara (the Lord who looks down) and Tara, who is regarded as a Boddhisattva of compassion and action.

While I read more about the bodhisattva Tara, I was surprised to see immense similarity between the tales of Tara and the Hindu Mother Goddess. The legend, the imagery, the qualities ascribed and even the mantras are akin. As the legend goes Avalokitesvara looked down from the summit of Marpori, the ‘Red Hill’, in Lhasa, and perceived the world of suffering beings. He was moved and he wept, and a teardrop from his right eye fell on the plain and became the fierce Green Tara; and a teardrop from his left eye fell on the plain and became the peaceful White Tara. Tara began to be associated with the motherly qualities of compassion and mercy.

Today, Green Tara and White Tara are probably the most popular representations of Tara. Green Tara/Khadiravani is usually associated with protection from fear and the following eight obscurations: Lions = Pride; Wild Elephants = Delusion/Ignorance; Fires = Hatred and Anger; Snakes = Jealousy; Bandits and Thieves = Wrong Views (incl. fanatical views); Bondage = Avarice and Miserliness; Floods = Desire and Attachment; Evil Spirits/Demons = Deluded Doubts.

White Tara/Sarasvati is associated with longevity of life. White Tara counteracts illness and thereby helps to bring about a long life. She embodies the motivation that is compassion and is said to be as white and radiant as the moon.

The Ellora caves in Maharashtra, India, display rock-cut images based on the legend of Avalokitesvara and Tara. The finest panel in Cave 4 shows Avalokitesvara seated in the bhadrasana pose with a long-stemmed lotus, antelope skin, and the Buddha Amitabha in his headdress. He is attended by two female bodhisattvas - Tara, with her water jar, rosary, and ascetic’s headdress, and Bhrikuti (Green Tara) with a beautiful bunch of lotuses and her more elegant coiffure. Buddhas, one standing and one seated, occupy the upper corners of the large panel.

Historically, there is no record of Tara before the 5th or 6th century C.E. She seems to have evolved from the early Brahminical goddess Durgā (”difficult or narrow passage”) with whom she shares many attributes and names. With the movement and cross-pollination of Indian Buddhism into Tibet, the worship and practices of Tara became incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism. In the 6th century C.E., during the era of the Pala Empire, Tara was adopted into the Buddhist pantheon as an important bodhisattva figure just a few centuries after the Prajnaparamita Sutra had been introduced into what was becoming the Mahayana Buddhism of India.

The other widely known forms of Tara from the generic set of bodhisattvas of similar aspects are:

- - Red Tara of fierce aspect is associated with magnetizing all good things became a popular object of Tantric worship and practice by the 7th century C.E.
  - Black Tara, associated with power
  - Yellow Tara, associated with wealth and prosperity
  - Blue Tara, associated with transmutation of anger

Another very interesting parallel can be drawn between the Buddhist Goddess Tara and the Hindu Goddess Tara, who is the second of the ten Mahavidyas or “Great Wisdom” Goddesses and also the Tantric manifestations of Mahadevi, Kali or Parvati. (Talking about the Great Wisdom Goddesses’ reminds me of the Greek Myth of the Nine Muses but I will leave that story for another day!) It is notable that the main Tara mantra as pronounced by Tibetans and Buddhists and the dhyana mantra of Tara in her form as Nila-saraswati in the Hindu Tantrasara is the same: OM TĀRE TUTTĀRE TURE SVĀHĀ

Share and Show: