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| Tara, will we let you be our guide?
By: Pam Parker Tara's Vow "Once there was a women named Yeshe Dawa "Wisdom Moon". She lived in a time long ago when people believed that in order to be enlightened one had to have a man's body. Wisdom Moon was so developed in her understanding, her compassion, her wisdom, her patience, her concentration, and her generosity-in all ways-that people came from all over the kingdom to seek her counsel. Crowds sat at her gate. Finally all the monks and holy men in the kingdom gathered around her and told her, Wisdom Moon, you are so close to being enlightened that if only you had the male form, you would be fully and completely enlightened. You must pray to be magically transformed into a man. Please, for the sake of everyone, pray either to be transformed in this lifetime or to be born again in a man's body, for the moment you have the male form, you will be a Buddha! Wisdom Moon was quiet for moment. She knew that the monks and holy men meant well but their vision was so limited. Finally she addressed them. Thank you very much, but I have thought about this matter for a long time. Worldly beings are always deluded on this account. Nowhere can I find what is male, nowhere can I find what is female. These are simply forms, no more separate from one another than a wave is from water. But since most Buddha�s have chosen to come as men, perhaps it would be more helpful if I became enlightened in a woman's body. Therefore she said slowly, looking at them each lovingly, directly, I vow for all-time, until all suffering is ended, in all the worlds, for all beings, in all universes, I will become enlightened only in the woman's body. Wisdom Moon did not achieve her enlightenment overnight. Some people are enlightened instantly, spontaneously; for others it is a long and arduous process. For Wisdom Moon it was a process that occurred over a period of time beyond calculation. Knowing she had felt to become fully and completely enlightened, nothing could stop her or diminish her desire to be of benefit to all beings. She would not eat breakfast until she had saved a million beings, that is, until she had taken the anger or the greed or the hatred in their hearts and transformed it to loving kindness and compassion. Then she wouldn't eat lunch until she had saved another million beings, and the same with dinner. So every day, lifetime after lifetime, for thousands and thousands of years, she saved millions and millions of beings. Then one day she was fully and completely enlightened. She was no longer Wisdom Moon or Yeshe Dawa, she was Tara. She had burst fully into bloom, imperceptibly, like a flower. People came to know her by many names. Her Tibetan name is Drolma, Mother. In Chinese, she is Kwan Yin. Her Sanskrit name is Tara, which means Liberator, Saviouress, and Star. Of all the Buddha�s and bodhisattvas, she is the quickest and most compassionate, the one who rushes to your aid the moment you think of her, even if you have never believed in her or called on her before. Called the Mother of All the Buddha�s, The Goddess of Compassion, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, the Womb of Enlightenment, Prajnaparamita-Wisdom- and the Buddha herself, this Buddha Tara has at least twenty- one forms, some say a hundred and eight, some say the number of her forms is beyond counting. Her forms are both peaceful and fierce. Though she can enter a state of complete liberation now - Bliss, nirvana - she chooses instead to stay in the world to relieve the suffering of others. Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig in Tibetan), the Lord and Bodhisattva of Compassion himself, had to be saved by her. He had taken a vow to save all beings from suffering, but he had given up. For every being he had saved, he lost another. Finally he began to weep in despair. Tara arose, Green Tara this time, from the tears of one eye, and White Tara from the other side. She told Avalokiteshvara not to worry, she had come to help him. Together they would save all beings. Tara comes in whatever form you need to see her in order to believe in her. She is like Wisdom in the Old Testament, Sophia, she comes to you as you go to her. She is known especially for removing great fears and for granting long life and healing. They say that she even cheats death. And she is swift." How wonderful it would be and what a beautiful world we would live in if we were to all follow Tara's example. To live a life free from all concerns except compassion for others would truly bring the entire world to new heights of wisdom and understanding - of enlightenment. Yes, this seems an enormously difficult task; but if we don't strive for the ultimate, we will never attain it. Many times we will fall short (it took Tara herself thousands of years) but if we don't set our goals at the highest we will never attain perfection - we will always fall short. Not of our goals but of our potential. It is the potential of every one of us to attain "enlightenment" and to return to the Divine - to bliss, Nirvana. Only by accepting this challenge given to us before incarnation can we fully return to the One. How is this to be done? We, in our society, have come so far away from things spiritual that it is very difficult to find our way back through the maze of materialism that crowds our lives and litters our minds. Can we not put aside our desires for all the "stuff" which we feel so necessary to our existence and seek other energies to nourish our souls? I believe we can. The path will be difficult, the way strewn with obstacles. Science and technology have given us an easier life than our ancestors. This in and of itself is not a bad thing. No one wants to have to grow all their own crops and hunt their own meat and build their own huts in the ways our forebears did. With the gift of an easier means of existence we also received the gift of tremendous amounts of leisure time. I know we all feel like we have no time to "do anything." But we are not spending most of our waking hours attempting to eke out an existence. What have we done with all this time? Have we sought to improve our minds, to feed our spirits so that they will soar? Have we made great strides toward improving the lot of all humankind? Have we shared our good fortune? Have we been compassionate - truly compassionate? Have we as individuals eased the suffering of even a hundred? What a long way we have to go. But the journey should be immensely rewarding. Can we not begin? Can we not try to turn our minds and efforts to enhancing our spiritual development instead of our collection of things? Can we not strive to share our wealth (material and spiritual) with those in so desperate need? Only by beginning - by trying - will we ever reach our potential - the heights from which we came and to which we all wish to return. |