Green flowersWaterIncenseFruitButter lampsRecitation of om tare tuttare ture svahaHelp given to someone in fear
Invocation Approach
Tone
Swift warm fierce
Address
TaraDrolmaGreen TaraSaviouressArya Tara
Relationship
The mother who answers before you finish asking
Warning
She comes fast so the question is answered fast
Resonance
The frightened the travelling those in immediate danger
Symbols
Blue lotusBoon granting mudraRefuge mudraGreen lightThe eight fears
Mythology Summary
Tara, 'the star', is the principal female bodhisattva of Tibetan Buddhism — Drolma, the swift saviouress who answers fear immediately — and her most common scriptural source is the Tara-mula-kalpa with its twenty-one forms. Tibetan tradition tells two origins: that she was born from a tear Avalokiteshvara shed at the sight of the world's suffering, and that as the princess Jnanachandra she refused the monks' advice to pray for rebirth as a man, vowing instead to work for beings in a female body until samsara is emptied. Green Tara (Khadiravani Tara, the Tara of the acacia grove) is the active, boon-granting form, right hand open in the varada mudra and left holding the blue night lotus; White Tara is the long-life form, a distinct figure with her own practice.
Modern Practice
Her mantra, om tare tuttare ture svaha, is among the most recited in Tibetan Buddhism — twenty-one repetitions before travel or a difficult meeting, and in illness — and the twenty-one praises are read daily in many monasteries. The eight fears she saves from are read both literally and psychologically in modern teaching, and the tradition keeps both readings.