Mana Youngbear as WHITE TARA
Om Tare, Tu Tare,
Your touch cools hatred and grief
A tantric prayer, "The 21 Praises to Tara", celebrates Tara, the Bodhissatva Goddess of Tibet. She has many aspects. Among them, Red Tara, Green Tara, and White Tara are all manifestations of the Goddess to assist those who call on Her for help. White Tara is "She Who Hears the Cries of the World", the embodiment of unconditional love. Tara sees beyond all veils, all dualities, to the ultimate unity, the perfection within all Beings. With infinate compassion, Tara as Bodhissatva abides to ease the world's suffering. She bears a lotus blossum, the flower that symbolizes perfected mind, rising from the murky depths of illusion, to bloom in transcendant beauty.
WHITE TARA
by Lauren Raine
I went to meet that savage creature I have run from,
lifetime after lifetime,
the shape within the shadows,
a creature of smoke and bared fangs.
I went to meet it at last,
And I let it take me in its vast arms,
and I kissed its terrible face.
And I thought I would die;
but I did not die.
I thought I would be swallowed;
but I was not swallowed.
Because that creature I thought would devour me
returned my embrace -
and I looked into eyes that became soft and liquid,
and filled with tears:
the eyes of a lonely child, my own lost child,
my brother, my sister, my lover, my mother.
And with great tenderness
Fear lay upon my breast, and slept.
And what bound me for so long
flowed out of me, and my heart expanded,
and I found I could hold the entire world
in my open arms.
I will make my arms a circle
I will make my heart a circle
I will walk all my sorrows, my fears Home.
I will walk circles around them,
Until at last I find that bright and spacious center
Come with me. Take my hand.
We will do it together
We will walk Home.
Lauren Raine, 1997
Photos by Ileya Stewart, Thomas Lux
Your touch cools hatred and grief
A tantric prayer, "The 21 Praises to Tara", celebrates Tara, the Bodhissatva Goddess of Tibet. She has many aspects. Among them, Red Tara, Green Tara, and White Tara are all manifestations of the Goddess to assist those who call on Her for help. White Tara is "She Who Hears the Cries of the World", the embodiment of unconditional love. Tara sees beyond all veils, all dualities, to the ultimate unity, the perfection within all Beings. With infinate compassion, Tara as Bodhissatva abides to ease the world's suffering. She bears a lotus blossum, the flower that symbolizes perfected mind, rising from the murky depths of illusion, to bloom in transcendant beauty.
WHITE TARA
by Lauren Raine
I went to meet that savage creature I have run from,
lifetime after lifetime,
the shape within the shadows,
a creature of smoke and bared fangs.
I went to meet it at last,
And I let it take me in its vast arms,
and I kissed its terrible face.
And I thought I would die;
but I did not die.
I thought I would be swallowed;
but I was not swallowed.
Because that creature I thought would devour me
returned my embrace -
and I looked into eyes that became soft and liquid,
and filled with tears:
the eyes of a lonely child, my own lost child,
my brother, my sister, my lover, my mother.
And with great tenderness
Fear lay upon my breast, and slept.
And what bound me for so long
flowed out of me, and my heart expanded,
and I found I could hold the entire world
in my open arms.
I will make my arms a circle
I will make my heart a circle
I will walk all my sorrows, my fears Home.
I will walk circles around them,
Until at last I find that bright and spacious center
Come with me. Take my hand.
We will do it together
We will walk Home.
Lauren Raine, 1997
Photos by Ileya Stewart, Thomas Lux
