Tara & the Eight Great Fears - Updated
Tara, a meditational deity in either her typical green or white form, is also associated with the Eight Great Fears originating with the early literature of Avalokiteshvara and Amoghapasha. The Eight Fears are: (1) water, (2) lions, (3) fire, (4) snakes, (5) elephants, (6) thieves, (7) false imprisonment and (8) ghosts are meant literally, but also have a deeper significance. Tantric Buddhism commonly presents an interpretive model having three and sometimes four levels of meaning: 1. Outer, 2. Inner, and 3. Secret.
The outer meaning of the eight fears are exactly as described above which are real fears experienced in ancient times and even now in the present day world. They all relate to the physical person and the fears presented in a physical material world. The inner meaning relates to passions, ego and negative emotional characteristics. The inner meaning relates to the mental world. The secret meaning has to do with tantric techniques and philosophies to transform these negative mental states into enlightened, or realized, states.
From Indian sources Tara is a completely enlightened buddha who had previously promised to appear, after enlightenment, in the form of a female bodhisattva, a peacful deity, goddess-like, for the benefit of all beings. In one Tibetan tradition, based on the apocryphal text called the Mani Kabum, Tara is described as emanating as a tear from an eye of Avalokiteshvara in his form with eleven heads and one thousand hands.
Practiced in all Schools of Tantric Buddhism Tara in her various forms are found in all four classifications of tantra, both Nyingma and Sarma. Her ten syllable mantra and the short tantra text known as the Twenty-One Praises of Tara spoken by the buddha Samantabhadra are memorized and popularly recited by all Tibetans from the time of early childhood.
Tara & the Eight Fears: Types & Compositions:
- Single Composition (this page - below)
- White Tara Single Composition
- Green Tara Set 1
- Green Tara Set 2
- Green Tara Set 3
- Green Tara Set 4
- Block Print Set
- Others....