Female Deities: List of female Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

Tara, Green

Yidam - beloved Saviouress

Also known as Drolma (Tibetan), Tara embodies the compassionate activity of all the Buddhas (her name means "the liberator" or "one who saves").

She is pictured with one face, two arms and a green-coloured body. Her right hand is outstretched in the mudra (sacred gesture) of generosity, and her left holds the stem of a blue lotus which blossoms at her left ear. Compassion, in the female forms of Kuan Yin (Chinese) and Tara (Tibetan). This form of Tara, Green Tara, is the most common one; but Tara also appears in other forms, such as White Tara, Red Tara and the Twenty-One Taras.

In the Gelukpa school there is also a Highest Yoga Tantra form of Tara known as Cittamani Tara.


Books:

  • The Cult of Tara: Magic and Ritual in Tibet, by Stephen Beyer (University of California Press, 1978, ISBN: 0520036352)
  • Tara The Feminine Divine, by Bokar Rinpoche (Clear Point Press, 1999, ISBN: 1930164009)
  • How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator, by Thubten Chodron (Snow Lion Publications, 2005, 1559392266)
© buddhistwomen.eu - 2023