Green Tārā - She Who Steps Forth

Green Tara - སྒྲོལ་ལྗང་ - 綠度母

When fear rises before thought, and danger looms before breath, it is not always a god who arrives — but a goddess. And not just any goddess, but one who moves swiftly, whose compassion acts without hesitation.

She is Green Tārā, the embodiment of enlightened activity, the mother of all buddhas who does not sit apart from the world but keeps one foot planted firmly within it. While her left leg rests in meditative poise, her right leg is always ready to rise — to intervene, to assist, to liberate.

Her color is the green of wind through leaves, the essence of movement, success, and fearless compassion. She is invoked in times of hardship and ordinary life alike — by pilgrims in mountains, monks in ritual, and everyday people facing illness, fear, or despair. Her mantra is short, yet potent — a sacred current running through Tibetan temples, whispered by countless voices:

Oṁ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā.

More than symbolism, she is a presence: holding a blue utpala flower blossoming in three times, adorned with the perfections of wisdom, patience, and joy. To visualize her is to remember that help is not far — that the awakened mind has not abandoned the world. She does not wait for our perfection. She responds to our cry.

Iconography of Green Tara

    The One Who Rose First

    There was a time, long ago in a distant realm, when a princess named Yeshe Dawa — Moon of Wisdom — walked the bodhisattva path with unwavering dedication. Lifetimes passed, and her devotion grew. At the end of one vast kalpa, she stood on the cusp of enlightenment.

    The monks praised her and said, “May you be reborn as a man so you can become a Buddha.”

    But the princess laughed—not in mockery, but in clarity. “There is no male or female, no self or other, no form that can bind the mind awakened to its true nature.” She vowed to always manifest in female form until all beings were free from suffering. She meditated deeply, and from that vow, her form changed — she became Tārā, the Liberator.

    Of her many manifestations, it is Green Tārā who stepped forward first. Her green body shimmered with the light of action. While others sat in absorption, she moved. When beings cried out in fear of war, of storms, of inner demons, she responded. And so she became the Swift One, the Compassionate Blade, the Bodhisattva Queen of Activity.

    She became associated with Amoghasiddhi, lord of the Karma (Action) family. Yet others remembered her as rising from the tears of Avalokiteśvara, or from the red light of Amitābha. Her origin didn’t matter — her presence did. She appeared where needed: atop lotus thrones, at the edge of dreams, within the breath of mantras.

    As her followers grew, they discovered her eight powers: to heal disease, calm distractions, increase life and wisdom, remove obstacles, and dispel fear, including the Eight Great Fears: lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, imprisonment, drowning, and spirits. Yet the greatest fear she dissolves is the fear within — the grasping mind that forgets its clarity.

    And so she remains, not as legend alone, but as living activity green as spring, fierce as truth, and near as the next breath.

    References

    • Rinpoche, B. (1999). TARA: THE FEMININE DIVINE. Clear Point Press. 
    • Stevens, R. (2022). Red tara: The female Buddha of power and magnetism (1st ed.). Shambhala Publications.
    • Stevens, R. (n.d.). Red tārā: Lineages of literature and practice [Phd Thesis]. University of Oxford.

    Spiritual Notes

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    Green Tara