White tare
| Tibetan name |
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Tibetan script :
sgrol dkar
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Wylie transliteration : sgrol dkar
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Pronunciation in IPA : [
ʈʂøkaː ]
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Official transcription of the PRCh : Zhoigar
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THDL transcription : Drölkar
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Other spellings: Dölkar, Dolkar, Drolkar
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| Chinese name |
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Traditional :
白 度 母
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Simplified :
白 度 母
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Pinyin : Báidùmǔ
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The white tara (skt. Sitatara) is one of the 21 taras , a female, peaceful bodhisattva of Tibetan Buddhism .
Legend
According to legend, she was once the Chinese seaweed princess Wen Cheng , the second wife of the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo , who brought the great Buddha statue to Tibet, which is still venerated in Jokhang Monastery today.
symbolism
The white tare symbolizes the transcendental perception and the perfect purity , grants a long life according to religious ideas and protects against diseases. Her seven eyes symbolize the highest level of consciousness and her ability to see any suffering. According to tantric iconography, six eyes stand for the six realms of being in samsara and the seventh eye for the wisdom perception of the three times (past / present / future) that should result from your realized state of consciousness. It also believes it helps practitioners achieve advanced meditation states.
There is also a recitation practice associated with the white tara, as with other Tibetan aspects of the Buddha . There is an opinion among the followers of Vajrayana that one can be harmed if one recites it without having received the appropriate initiation. In particular, in Tibetan Buddhism, the mantras that belong to these practices are kept secret. You only find out about it at the initiation.
presentation
In iconography, the white Tara can be the companion of Avalokiteshvara or form a triad with Mahamayuri and Marichi and, together with Namgyälma and Amitayus, belongs to the Buddha-aspects of long life.
She is depicted as a peaceful appearance with mostly white body color. She has one face and two arms, the right one is stretched out in the Mudra of Generosity (palm forward). The left hand holds the stem of a fully opened lotus flower at heart level. She sits in a meditation posture, sometimes with her right leg pulled up on a lotus throne. Her seven eyes are a special feature; apart from two normal eyes and one eye on the forehead, there is another eye on the palms and soles of the feet. She wears the jewelry of a bodhisattva.
The white tare appears in different forms, e.g. B. with a vina (lute) similar to the Indian goddess Sarasvati .
In her form as Ushnisha Sitatapatra she has a thousand heads and arms, as well as one eye in each of the thousand palms; as a symbol of her all-seeing eyes of compassion. Your attributes then include the wheel, the parasol and the bow and arrow.
literature
- Monika Countess von Borries: The White Tara. Wencheng - Chinese princess, Tibetan queen. Logophon, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-922514-89-8 .
