Green Tara Day

In Himalayan representations, Tara can appear in as many as 21 forms, and in painting and pieced-silk images, she is depicted in five different colors—like the Five Dhyani-Buddhas—the most common of which are Green Tara.

Tārā also embodies many of the qualities of feminine principle. She is known as the Mother of Mercy and Compassion. She is the source, the female aspect of the universe, which gives birth to warmth, compassion and relief from bad karma as experienced by ordinary beings in cyclic existence. She engenders, nourishes, smiles at the vitality of creation, and has sympathy for all beings as a mother does for her children.

Tara is the most beloved of all the female enlightened beings in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. The essence of awakened love and compassion, she is known as “the mother of all the buddhas” and “she who ferries beings across the ocean of samsara.” As a fully enlightened female buddha, Tara is the actuality of compassion and wisdom, and meditating on her helps us awaken our own buddhanature. Her right foot is slightly extended because she is ready to leap to the aid of beings. Her right hand is opened out on her right knee, in the gesture of generosity. Her left hand holds the stem of a lotus flower, which is blossoming next to her left ear.

As a school we reflection on active compassion and draw our awareness to those people in our lives that have nurtured us, regardless of their gender all people have the capacity to nurture within their own buddha nature. We express our gratitude towards these people.