White Tara, The White Goddess, Brass, 8.5 inches
Tibetans pray to White Tara especially for health, healing and longevity. She offers healing to our wounds, whether it is our bodies or our minds that have been hurt. The White Tara has 7 eyes — with an eye in her forehead, and one on each hand and foot — symbolizing her compassionate vigilance to see all the suffering of the world. Her left hand is in the protective mudra and her right in the wish-granting mudra. In her left hand she usually holds a stem of the Utpala lotus flower with three blossoms. One blossom is represented as a seed, a second as ready to bloom, and the third in full bloom. These represent the Buddhas of the past, future and present.
The White Goddess is one of the many images of the Mother of the World. She is a principle, and yet a living being. In Tibet, the White Goddess is especially loved and worshiped as Tara, the saviouress. Tibetan Buddhists understand that the one who is going to save the world is the Mother, and that she comes to save the world in the end of the age of the Kali Yuga.
Tara is said to have been born from a lotus that grew in the water of a tear shed by Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig), who, as the ancient text records, “saw that however many migrating beings he removed from samsara, they grew no fewer, and he wept.” Thus Tara is considered the counterpart of feminine Avalokiteshvara or his divine consort, and like Kuan Yin, she is a bodhisattva of compassion. The relationship between Tara and Kuan Yin has been the subject of much speculation. Some say that Kuan Yin is Tara’s Chinese counterpart and others believe that the two are really one and the same being.
We love her mantra which has a lovely rhythmic cadence to it:
Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha
Pronounced: Aum Tah-ray-Tew tah-ray-Tew ray Svah-ha.
