Tara (, ; , ), Ārya Tārā (Noble Tara), also known as Jetsün Dölma (Tibetan: rje btsun sgrol ma, meaning: "Venerable Mother of Liberation"), is an important female Buddha in Buddhism, especially revered in Vajrayana Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. She may appear as a female bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism, Green Tara is a female Buddha who is a consort of Amoghasiddhi Buddha. Tārā is also known as a saviouress who hears the cries of beings in saṃsāra and saves them from worldly and spiritual danger.
In Vajrayana, she is considered to be a Buddha, and the Tārā Tantra describes her as "a mother who gives birth to the buddhas of the three times" who is also "beyond saṃsāra and nirvāṇa". She is one of the most important female deities in Vajrayana and is found in sources like the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, and the Guhyasamāja Tantra. Key Indic Vajrayana texts which focus on Tārā include the Tantra Which Is the Source for All the Functions of Tārā, Mother of All the Tathagatas (Skt. Sarvatathāgatamātṛtārāviśvakarmabhavanāmatantra) and Tārā's Fundamental Ritual Text (Tārāmūlakalpa).
This is why the name is sometimes translated as "savioress" or "rescuer". For example, in Tibetan, she is known as Jetsun Drölma ( , Wylie: rje btsun sgrol ba), meaning "Venerable Saviour" which is derived from the Tibetan verb sgrol ba meaning "to save, rescue, liberate; to carry, transport, or cross; and to expel or drive away [evil]".
The name Tārā may also mean "star" or "planet" (since they are celestial bodies which cross the sky and are thus literally "crossers").
Tara is also known in East Asian Buddhism. In Chinese, her name is rendered as Duoluo Pusa (, Duōluó Púsà), with Pusa indicating bodhisattva status. In Japanese she is . The name means "Bodhisattva who catches many" or "Bodhisattva who collects numerous [sentient beings]", derived from the characters: , "to catch, gather, collect, sift", and "many; much; a lot of; numerous".
History
thumb|Three Taras at [[Ellora Caves, Cave number 12]]
thumb|Green Tara attended by White Tara and Cintamani Tārā (Yellow Tara). [[Madhya Pradesh, Sirpur, ]]
thumb|Tara image from [[Nepal, 10th century]]
thumb|Tara statue from [[Lalitgiri|Lalitagiri, Odisha, c. 10th century]]
Buddhist studies scholars generally agree that the worship of Tārā began growing in popularity in India during the 6th century. In the earliest sources, Tārā is seen as the personification of Avalokiteśvara's compassion.</blockquote>Tārā, then, embodies certain ideals which make her attractive to women practitioners, and her emergence as a Bodhisattva can be seen as a part of Mahayana Buddhism's reaching out to women, and becoming more inclusive even in 6th-century CE India.
Characteristics and symbolism
Tārā's name literally means "star" or "planet", and therefore she is associated with navigation and travel both literally and metaphorically as spiritual crossing to the "other side" of the ocean of existence (enlightenment). Hence she is known literally as "she who saves" in Tibetan. In the 108 Names of the Holy Tara, Tara is "Leader of the caravans ..... who showeth the way to those who have lost it" and she is named as Dhruva, the Sanskrit name for the North Star.
Within Tibetan Buddhism, Tārā appears in many forms, each tied to certain colors, symbols, and beneficial activities. As Green Tārā she offers succor and protection from all the unfortunate circumstances one can encounter in the world of suffering. As White Tārā she expresses maternal compassion and offers healing to beings who are hurt or wounded, either mentally or psychically. White Tara is further associated with longevity, countering illness, and purification. Red Tārā meanwhile is associated with power, controlling and influencing others as well as with the transformation of desire into compassion. The manifestation of Blue Tārā (Ekajati) is a ferocious female protector whose invocation destroys all obstacles.
thumb|A copper Tārā from Nepal, c. 17th or 18th century
Tārā is also a forest goddess, particularly in her form as Khadiravani, "dweller in the Khadira forest" and is generally associated with plant life, flowers, acacia (khadira) trees and the wind. Because of her association with nature and plants, Tārā is also known as a healing goddess (especially as White Tārā) and as a goddess of nurturing quality and fertility. Her association with the wind element (vaayu) also means that she is swift in responding to calls for any aid.
According to Miranda Shaw, "Motherhood is central to the conception of Tara". Her titles include "loving mother", "supreme mother", "mother of the world", "universal mother" and "mother of all Buddhas". As such, Tārā embodies many of the qualities of feminine principle. She is known as the Mother of Mercy and Compassion. She is the source, the female aspect of the universe, which gives birth to warmth, compassion and relief from bad karma as experienced by ordinary beings in cyclic existence. She engenders, nourishes, smiles at the vitality of creation, and has sympathy for all beings as a mother does for her children.
Tārā is most often shown with the blue lotus or night lotus (utpala), which releases its fragrance with the appearance of the moon and therefore Tārā is also associated with the moon and night.]]
In general, Tārā is especially seen as a savior who provides salvation and protection from the eight fears (aṣṭabhaya) or eight dangers (aṣṭaghora). This is a common theme in her iconography and she is sometimes depicted in a specific iconographical style called "Tara who protects from the eight dangers" (Tārāṣṭaghoratāraṇī).
According to The Noble Sūtra "Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers" (*Āryatārāṣṭaghoratāraṇīsūtra), the eight dangers (aṣṭaghora) are: lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, waters, infectious diseases, and demons. This sutra also contains an incantation (dharani) which is chanted to invoke Tārā's protection.
In Tibetan Buddhism, each of these outer dangers is also associated with an inner psychological meaning. As such, lions represent pride, wild elephants represent delusion, fires represent anger, snakes represent jealousy, bandits represent wrong views, bondage represent avarice, floods represent desire and attachment, and evil spirits and demons represent doubts.
With the development of esoteric or tantric Buddhism, two main ways of approaching Tara developed. In one, common folk and lay practitioners continued to directly appeal to her for protection and aid in worldly affairs, often chanting prayers, dharanis, or mantras to her and doing puja (worship rites). Tara's mantra and her twenty one verses of praise are widely learned and chanted by Tibetan laypersons. Tara is thus associated with the Lotus Buddha family of Amitabha Buddha. Her association with Buddha Amitabha is also affirmed by Thubten Chodron, who discusses how Tara is part of Amitabha's buddha family (the Lotus family):<blockquote>Amitabha Buddha rests on Tara's crown. Buddhist deities may be divided into five "families," related to the five Dhyani Buddhas. Amitabha Buddha is the head of the family to which both Tara and Chenresig belong. For this reason Amitabha sits on her crown. Amitabha is Tara's guru, her spiritual mentor.</blockquote>Furthermore, she is also said to have a pure dwelling within Mount Potalaka, Avalokiteśvara's pure bodhimanda in this world.
In Vajrayana
thumb|right|18th-century Eastern [[Tibetan thanka, with an esoteric Samaya Tara Yogini (Tibetan: dam tsig drol ma nal jor ma) in the center and the Blue, Red, White and Yellow taras in the corners, Rubin Museum of Art]]
thumb|Sand mandala of Green Tara, constructed by Tibetan monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery in India at [[Kentucky Center for the Arts, 2017]]
Tārā as a focus for tantric deity yoga can be traced back to the time period of Padmasambhava. There is a Red Tārā practice which was given by Padmasambhava to Yeshe Tsogyal. He asked that she hide it as a treasure. It was not until the 20th century, that a great Nyingma lama, Apong Terton rediscovered it. It is said that this lama was reborn as Sakya Trizin, present head of the Sakyapa sect. A monk who had known Apong Terton succeeded in retransmitting it to Sakya Trizin, and the same monk also gave it to Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, who released it to his western students.
Martin Willson in In Praise of Tārā traces many different lineages of Tārā Tantras, that is Tārā scriptures used as Tantric sadhanas. For example, a Tārā sadhana was revealed to Tilopa (988–1069 CE), the human father of the Karma Kagyu. Atisa, the great translator and founder of the Kadampa school of Tibetan Buddhism, was a devotee of Tārā. He composed a praise to her, and three Tārā Sadhanas. Martin Willson's work also contains charts which show origins of her tantras in various lineages, but suffice to say that Tārā as a tantric practice quickly spread from around the 7th century CE onwards, and remains an important part of Vajrayana Buddhism to this day.
The practices themselves usually present Tārā as a tutelary deity (thug dam, yidam) which the practitioners sees as being a latent aspect of one's mind, or a manifestation in a visible form of a quality stemming from Buddha Jnana. As John Blofeld puts it in The Tantric Mysticism of Tibet:
Mantras
thumb|<div align ="center">The Mantra of Tārā<br/>Oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā <br/>in the Lañja variant of [[Ranjana alphabet|Ranjana and Tibetan alphabets</div>]]
thumb|tāṃ, the seed syllable ([[Bījamantra|bijamantra) of Green Tara in Tibetan script. In some Vajrayana practices, one visualizes the seed syllable of Tara.]]
The various systems of Vajrayana Tārā practice contain numerous mantras for Tara. Technically speaking, a Tārā mantra is termed a "vidyā" (the proper term for a mantra of a female deity). The main vidyā mantra of Tārā is: Oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā. This is the most popularly recited mantra of the deity and is her root (mula) mantra. This prayer is recited daily by many monastics and laypersons of the Himalayan Vajrayana traditions.
Sadhanas
thumb|Tara statue. [[Gyantse Kumbum. 1993]]
Sadhanas in which Tārā is the yidam (meditational deity) can be extensive or quite brief. Most all of them include some introductory praises or homages to invoke her presence and prayers of taking refuge. Then her mantra is recited, followed by a visualization of her, perhaps more mantra, then the visualization is dissolved, followed by a dedication of the merit from doing the practice. Additionally there may be extra prayers of aspirations, and a long life prayer for the Lama who originated the practice. Many of the Tārā sadhanas are seen as beginning practices within the world of Vajrayana Buddhism, however what is taking place during the visualization of the deity actually invokes some of the most sublime teachings of all Buddhism.
In this case during the creation phase of Tārā as a yidam, she is seen as having as much reality as any other phenomena apprehended through the mind. By reciting her mantra and visualizing her form in front, or on the head of the adept, one is opening to her energies of compassion and wisdom. After a period of time the practitioner shares in some of these qualities, becomes imbued with her being and all it represents. At the same time all of this is seen as coming out of Emptiness and having a translucent quality like a rainbow. Then many times there is a visualization of oneself as Tārā. One simultaneously becomes inseparable from all her good qualities while at the same time realizing the emptiness of the visualization of oneself as the yidam and also the emptiness of one's ordinary self.
thumb|Green Tārā, (Syamatara) known as the Buddha of enlightened activity, , [[Alci Monastery]]
This occurs in the completion stage of the practice. One dissolves the created deity form and at the same time also realizes how much of what we call the "self" is a creation of the mind, and has no long term substantial inherent existence. This part of the practice then is preparing the practitioner to be able to confront the dissolution of one's self at death and ultimately be able to approach through various stages of meditation upon emptiness, the realization of Ultimate Truth as a vast display of Emptiness and Luminosity. At the same time the recitation of the mantra has been invoking Tārā's energy through its Sanskrit seed syllables and this purifies and activates certain energy centers of the body (chakras). This also untangles knots of psychic energy which have hindered the practitioner from developing a Vajra body, which is necessary to be able to progress to more advanced practices and deeper stages of realization.
Therefore, even in a simple Tārā sadhana a plethora of outer, inner, and secret events is taking place and there are now many works such as Deity Yoga, compiled by the present Dalai Lama, which explores all the ramifications of working with a yidam in Tantric practices.
The end results of doing such Tārā practices are many. For one thing it reduces the forces of delusion in the forms of negative karma, sickness, afflictions of kleshas, and other obstacles and obscurations.
The mantra helps generate Bodhicitta within the heart of the practitioner and purifies the psychic channels (nadis) within the body allowing a more natural expression of generosity and compassion to flow from the heart center. Through experiencing Tārā's perfected form one acknowledges one's own perfected form, that is one's intrinsic Buddha nature, which is usually covered over by obscurations and clinging to dualistic phenomena as being inherently real and permanent.
The practice then weans one away from a coarse understanding of Reality, allowing one to get in touch with inner qualities similar to those of a bodhisattva, and prepares one's inner self to embrace finer spiritual energies, which can lead to more subtle and profound realizations of the Emptiness of phenomena and self.
As Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, in his Introduction to the Red Tārā Sadhana, notes of his lineage: "Tārā is the flawless expression of the inseparability of emptiness, awareness and compassion. Just as you use a mirror to see your face, Tārā meditation is a means of seeing the true face of your mind, devoid of any trace of delusion".
There are several preparations to be done before practising the Sadhana. To perform a correct execution the practitioner must be prepared and take on the proper disposition. The preparations may be grouped as "internal" and "external". Both are necessary to achieve the required concentration.
Tibetan revealed texts
Terma teachings are "hidden teachings" said to have been left by Padmasambhava (8th century) and others for the benefit of future generations. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo discovered Phagme Nyingthig (Tib. spelling: 'chi med 'phags ma'i snying thig, Innermost Essence teachings of the Immortal Bodhisattva <nowiki>[Arya Tārā]</nowiki>).
Earlier in the 19th century, according to a biography, Nyala Pema Dündul received a Hidden Treasure, Tārā Teaching and Nyingthig (Tib. nying thig) from his uncle Kunsang Dudjom (Tib. kun bzang bdud 'joms). It is not clear from the source whether the terma teaching and the nyingthig teachings refer to the same text or two different texts.
Forms
thumb|Green Tara, tempera on cloth, 1160s–1180s. Collection of John and Berthe Ford, Promised gift to the [[Walters Art Museum, Baltimore]]
thumb|Red Tara from an [[Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra Manuscript]]
thumb|Khadira forest Tara, black basalt, Bihar, 10th century
thumb|White Tara and Green Tara
There are many forms of Tārā, including various popular lists of 21 different forms or emanations of Tārā. "Green Tārā"
(Skt. śyāmatārā), who is associated with peacefulness and enlightened activity, is the most depicted form of the goddess in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. This is generally considered Tārā's main form, out of which the other twenty one forms arise. One common variation of Green Tārā is known as Khadiravaṇi-Tārā (Tārā of the acacia forest) and appears in a forest with flowers in her hair while accompanied by her two attendants Mārīcī and Ekajaṭā.
Another popular form is White Tārā (Sitatārā), often shown with two arms seated on a white lotus and with eyes on her hand and feet, as well as a third eye on her forehead (thus she is also known as "Seven eyed"). She is known for compassion, long life, healing, and serenity. Red forms of Tārā are also quite common, and their main activity is power and enthrallment or magnetizing (Skt. vaśīkaraṇa, the "power to control and subjugate").
Tārā is generally considered to have many forms, all of which are various adaptations to the needs of all living beings. According to Dharmachari Purna: