28/09/2026
Today, on the first day of the 21 Tara Puja, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche bestowed upon us the empowerment of the Green Tara from the Atisha tradition.
This Green Tara is the root of all Taras. Her right hand holds the long-life vase in the varada mudra, and her left hand holds the stem of a blue utpala near her heart, which blooms near her left ear. She sits in lalitasana (the posture of royal ease), and the verses of praise for her are:
ལྷ་དང་ལྷ་མིན་ཅོད་པཎ་གྱིས། །ཞབས་ཀྱི་པདྨོ་ལ་བཏུད་དེ། །ཕོངས་པ་ཀུན་ལས་སྒྲོལ་མཛད་མ། །སྒྲོལ་མ་ཡུམ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
English translation:
*Gods and demigods, with their crowns,*
*Touching your lotus feet in reverence;*
*To She who liberates from all distress,*
*To Mother Tara, I pay homage!*
Image: Green Tara
This section of a cloth painting from c. 1450–1500 depicts Green Tara. The painting is from Guge, an ancient dynastic kingdom in the western region of Tibet. Here, the goddess is seated on a lotus throne and displays the *varada mudra*, or the boon-giving gesture.
