She Is The Star Who Saves

There is a very special deity known throughout Buddhism named Sgrol-ma, which means “she who saves”. This savior goddess is most popular in the regions of Tibet , Mongolia and Nepal. She is known simply as Tara or “star” in the Sanskrit language.

Tara is the goddess of universal compassion, she is the representation of all virtuous, enlightened action. Her love for all living things is stronger than the love of a mother for her child. Tara protects us during our earthly travels, giving us longevity and stands guards us as we fumble our way through the spiritual journey to enlightenment.

Before the sixth century CE Tara was not known to Buddhists but she was very well known in Hinduism by another name, the goddess Parvati. When Buddhists discovered Tara they say she was born out of Avalokiteshvara, through her tears of compassion. As the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara wept for the world and its beings who endure suffering, her tears formed a lake. Inside this lake of tears grew a lotus and when the lotus opened the goddess Tara was inside! In another legend Tara was born from a blue light beam coming from one of Avalokiteshvara's eyes..

The body of Tara is envisioned in different colours, each colour symbolizes separate things. In some traditions it is said that White Tara, with her lotus in full bloom, symbolizes the day, and was born from the tears of Avalokiteshvara's left eye. Green Tara with her half-open lotus, represents the night, and came from the tears of Avalokiteshvara's right eye. Green Tara is the embodiment of virtuous activity, White Tara symbolizes the immense compassion of the goddess who labors day and night to relieve suffering.

In Tibet,Every pious woman was believed to be an incarnation of Tara. She was associated with two wives of the first Buddhist king of Tibet, Srong-brtsan-sgam-po. The Buddhist kings wife from imperial China was known an incarnation of the White Tara, while the king's wife from Nepalese was an incarnation of the Green Tara. It is possible that the strong need to see both these pious women as incarnations of Tara was the reason Buddhists came up with the concept of green and white forms of this goddess.