Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Tara's Determination


In this world known as Various Light, in this world, there was a Buddha known as Lord of the Sound of Drums or Dundubh-ishvara. A princess known as Wisdom Moon or Jnanachandra was a devotee of Lord of the Sound of Drums. It has been a long time since the Princess had been making offerings to him and the bodhisattvas, until at one point she finally there arose in her determination to become a Buddha herself.

She was later advised to seek a rebirth in a male’s body as at that time, no one ever heard of a female Buddha.

"Nonsense!" she thought and as most of us will think so too. "What is actually the difference in the form of the body? Does it really matter? But In fact, to correct these wrong views from the minds of certain beings, I shall forever be reborn as a female! She said.

“There are many who wish to attain enlightenment in a man's body, but there are not much who wished to serve the aims to attain enlightenment in a woman's body are few indeed. Therefore until this world is emptied out, may I be able to serve the aims of beings with none but a woman's body” she said.

Then the princess sat determinedly in meditation for a very long time and she had attained the state called Saving All Beings.Every single morning and evenings before she had her meals, she will introduce and fixed innumerable beings in the state of acceptance and so slowly she became known as “Tara the Saviour”.

Being reborn into the realm of Buddha Amoghasiddi the princess, now known as Tara took another vow before him. She is determined to protect all sentient beings of the infinite worlds of all the ten directions from harm. She settled into the state of meditation defeating all Maras.

Then, in the era called “Beginningless”, there was a monk who was known as “Stainless Light” was empowered via the light of compassion of all the tathagathas [buddhas] and and become known as Avalokiteshvara or known as Chenrezig in Tibetan.

In him, there are two lights emanating from all the Buddha that of “Understanding and Compassion”, united as both a father and mother. These lights, these energies, engendered Tara who was by then born from the heart of the Lord of the World as a bud from the lotus.

That is how Tara is understood to have came out of Emptiness to us, but by the merits of her devotion and determination which, manifested as care will find its way through the union of “Wisdom and Compassion” to all sentient beings.

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