My Love, My Lady: Green Tara

Feelings From the Garden - Saturday, November 9, 2024

Today, I would like to talk about one of the great spiritual loves of this life (and likely many other lifetimes): She is Green Tara with her twenty-one emanations. Whenever I am down and in the dumps, She is the one who always seems to show up, lift me up, and show me that everything will be okay.

Green Tara came to me one day when I realized that my spiritual practice was very focused on masculine divinity. At the time, I chanted and worked with the great Medicine Buddha, Ganesha, and Shiva. So, I asked them to help me find and connect with feminine divine energy. Basically, the next day, they delivered her to me through a seemingly random encounter on Instagram. One of my followers messaged me, and somehow, the conversation shifted to discussing the divine feminine. He recommended Green Tara. I immediately knew and felt her presence and knew She was my guide to the divine feminine.

At the time, I knew very little about her, but I did know her mantra. So, the next morning, I committed to chanting her mantra every day for 40 days (as is the tradition). She began popping up for me everywhere, yet I still knew very little about her. Then I stumbled upon the book Tara’s Enlightened Activity by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche. I began incorporating her praises at the start of my practice, followed by chanting her mantra 108 times. Over a year passed, and I experimented with different ways of prayer with Her. My spiritual nature tends to rebel against established traditions and methods, especially those rooted in patriarchal religions. Anyway, I then came across the book TARA: The Liberating Power of the Female Buddha by Rachael Wooten, PhD—a book written by a woman about a female deity. Sign me up! This book continued to transform my practice and deepen my relationship with Tara.

Today, I want to start introducing Green Tara to you all. I feel called by her to do so, especially as it’s been a difficult and traumatic week for many people. I think she wants me to share her comfort and compassion in these challenging times.

There are two main stories of how Green Tara came into being. The story from Rachael Wooten’s book TARA: The Liberating Power of the Female Buddha resonated deeply with me, and I used to share it as part of a meditation at the start of a Green Tara prayer circle that I used to host regularly. I hope to start it back up again at some point, maybe in the new year. This story is mostly as Rachael wrote it; I just modified it slightly to help me speak it aloud.

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The Story of Green Tara:

Once upon a time, a beginningless time ago, in a world called “Multicolored Light,” a young princess, Yeshe Dawa, or Wisdom Moon, attracted the attention of some monks.

They noticed that her devotion and boundless offerings to the Buddha of their age—whose name was Drum Sound—had opened her heart to bodhicitta, or the mind of enlightenment, the motivation to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

These monks wondered among themselves, “How can she progress on the path of awakening?” They were surprised by her accomplishments, thinking a woman could not reach enlightenment.

They approached Wisdom Moon, confident in the advice they planned to offer her, and said, “You should transform yourself into a man in this very moment—or pray to be reborn as a man in your next lifetime. Then, you will surely attain enlightenment!”

Wisdom Moon, being unusually kind and wise for her age, took a deep breath and paused. Then she reminded the monks of a central tenet of Buddhism: “Ultimate reality has no distinctions such as self or other, male or female.”

She went on to say, “Many of you are willing to work for enlightenment in a male body. It is very rare for people to follow this path as a woman.”

With courage and clarity, she vowed, “I will achieve enlightenment only in a female form. As a woman, I will also work continuously to free sentient beings from suffering.”

With her heartfelt vow and brave words, Wisdom Moon illuminated the monks’ ignorance of the Buddhist teachings.

Eons passed as she continued to teach and liberate millions of beings. Not only did Tara become a buddha herself, she became known as the Mother of all Buddhas—from that long-ago time to our current era.¹

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Inspired by Rachael Wooten’s Green Tara card deck and combining her descriptions and praises with those of Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, I embarked on a journey of creating my own prayers, praises, and practices for my Lady Green Tara.

Below is the prayer I use to evoke Green Tara. Green Tara is one whole being but has twenty-one emanations. This is Her prayer as the One. I will slowly share the prayers and praises I wrote for each of the twenty-one emanations.

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Green Tara Prayer

OM Mother Green Tara,
Ineffable, unknowable, and the deepest of mysteries.
Whenever you are called upon for assistance, you appear.
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

OM Mother Tara,
Manifest within me an inner state of calm and repose, of clarity and purpose, and of wisdom and compassion.
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

OM Lady Green Tara,
You manifest as the outer events through which every form of material exists.
Manifest within me, around me, and through me.
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

OM Holy Mother Tara,
Help me overcome all of my fears and remain fully present in the face of life’s difficulties.
May your presence allow me to heal my past and create a new future.
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

OM Holy Lady Tara,
Known by countless names: Star, Liberator, Savioress, and giver of all realizations.
Help me realize my own true nature, which is none other than your own.
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

OM Supreme Mother Tara,
All the Divine and Holy beings bow down before you, touching their crowns to your lotus feet.
You remove all forms of poverty, both material and spiritual.
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

Om, Homage to Noble Lady Tara.
Homage to TARE, Quick One Heroine.
With TUTTARE, you are the one who banishes all fear.
With TURE, the liberator who bestows all benefits.
With SOHA, I pay homage to you.
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

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I hope that Green Tara brings you the same blessings, comfort, and compassion she brings me.

Until next time, my friends.

1. Adapted from TARA: The Liberating Power of the Female Buddha by Rachael Wooten, PhD.