TARA: Tibetan Devī of Compassion

Click the Play button above, focus on the center and sing along.

Green Tara Mantra

Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha

To Tara, To You Tara,
Oh Swift One, Blessings.

Tara is a name that appears in many spiritual traditions, and this Tara comes from Tibetan Buddhism. Tara is the embodiment of Compassion, and takes on 21 forms. Green Tara emphasizes the quality of the swiftness of compassion. The design above is created from the Tibetan alphabet spelling the Green Tara mantra, also in the Tibetan Language. You can sing along and welcome compassion into your life.

The Essence of Compassion

Where does compassion come from? What is its nature? When you feel compassion, where in your body does it begin to well up? In the current state of the United States, there are campaigns to eject certain types of people from its borders, and it is in that very differentiation that compassion breaks down. Compassion brings us all in to a welcoming circle of beings that don’t require restrictions of any kind. Why?

I spoke to several spiritually inclined friends about this. My friend Yolanda answered simply and powerfully that compassion is our true nature; it’s just the ego that blocks it from flowing freely. My friends Alistair & Pam correlate compassion with those who we identify with. There is a circle of concern that we draw, and we have compassion for those within that circle. That circle could be just ourselves or include our family and loved ones, or demographic identities. That circle can expand all the way out to all beings, and then our compassion knows no boundary. I personally love both of these points of view. Do you have another take?

Embodiment

I also like to pay attention to where compassion settles in my body, how my heart open when I chant to Tara or practice compassion with others. The mere act of bringing awareness to our bodies seems to amplify the positive vibration. We can sing to Tara to help us remember our true nature, allow it to grow from our heart outwards into the world, and inspire us to take action to care of each other. The more we steep in compassion, the more it grows.

You can learn more about Tara and listen to my demo here.

You can buy a shirt with this design on Etsy here.