Tara Mantra ”Om tare tuttare ture soha” (Song)

MANTRA LYRICS ”Om tare tuttare ture soha.” MANTRA TRANSLATION “I prostrate to the Liberator, Mother of all the Victorious Ones.” ICONOGRAPHY She is represented as a beautiful, often voluptuous, sixteen-year-old woman. In visual arts, She is usually illustrated with one leg out of the lotus position, extended down for a quick and decisive response when needed. The Goddess holds a blue lotus (symbolizing power and purity) in her right hand (which is held at chest level) in the vitarka, or teaching mudra, and the left hand is in the varada mudra, or gesture of giving. MANTRA MEANING Om – represents the speech, body, and mind qualities of all the Buddhas. Om has no conceptual meaning and is the sacred sound representing the entire universe, past, present and future. Tare – represents salvation from suffering and mundane dangers. The word is translated as ”the Swift One.” Tuttare – represents the protection from all our fears and the deliverance into the spiritual path, conceived in terms of individual salvation. Ture – represents the fulfillment of our spiritual path. Meaning we want to develop all of the positive qualities and we want to purify all our negativities. Soha – translates as ”so be it”, ”may it be like that” or “May a blessing rest on.” LEGEND OF ENLIGHTENED TARA’S PROMISE TO AVALOKITESHVARA It is said that long time ago, after Avalokiteshvara had achieved enlightement, every day he was able to liberate countless sentient beings from cyclic existence, leading them from happiness to happiness, to liberation and to enlightment. After working for sentient beings in such a way every day for many eons, he decided to investigate by his omniscient mind and see how many sentient beings were still left behind. From his investigation he realised that there were still so many sentient beings left. He become discouraged, saying: “I am not benefiting sentient beings. I still cannot benefit all these sentient beings.“ He began to cry and tears fell from his eyes. Tear felt down to soil and become a lotus. The lotus bloomed and inside the lotus was Tara. Tara said to Avalokiteshvara: “Please, don’t worry. I will help you in your quest to lead sentient beings to elightment.“ buddha Tara made her promise. LEGEND OF TARA’S WAY TO ENLIGHTEMENT The legend of Tara, as recounted by lamas such as Taranatha (1575–1634), explains that countless eons ago, during the life of a former historical Buddha, there was a princess called Wisdom Moon (Tib. Yeshe Dawa). She received instructions from the Buddha on developing bodhicitta, the intention to reach enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, and first took the Bodhisattva Promise in his presence. Afterwards, some of the Buddha’s monks approached Wisdom Moon. They praised her intention, but offered their opinion that she would be much better suited to benefit beings in a male form, and that she should also wish to be reborn as a man. Wisdom Moon was taken aback as this idea did not agree with her understanding of the Buddha’s teaching that all beings equally have the potential to attain enlightenment. Being confident in her understanding and of strong character, Wisdom Moon made the opposite aspiration: she promised to be reborn only in female form in order to liberate beings that way and counteract such chauvinistic notions. And she did, diligently practicing the path to enlightenment in female incarnation after female incarnation. In her enlightened appearance she became known as Tara, or “Liberatrice”. In practicing the Buddha’s teachings, one’s form is irrelevant. It is one’s determination to be free from the cycle of conditioned existence and one’s compassionate concern for the welfare of others that are of paramount importance. CHANTING MANTRA BENEFIT According to the high lamas, no one ever attained Enlightenment without the help of Female Buddha/Goddess Tara. When you chant this potent mantra with intense devotion, the mantra is transformed into a powerful wish-fulfilling prayer. Legendary Tara was born from the tear of Avalokiteshvara. When Tara emerged from the lotus, she said, “I will help you to free all sentient beings.“ Tara said, “Just by reciting my name, reciting my mantra and remembering me, you will purify all obscurations, you will be quickly freed from allfears, and from different kinds of suffering and you wil quickly find yourself out of cyclic existence.“ TARA OIL PAINTING Painting displayed throughout the video is from Zeng Hao. Here you can find his works: