Saturday, June 14

12:30-3:30pm ET

Online | $100

Tara, the female Buddha representing skillful enlightened action, is one of the most popular meditational deities of the Himalayan region; dear to the hearts of Tibetans, Northern Indians, and Mongolians, she is also propitiated by the Newari Buddhist community in Nepal. In all of these regions, Tara practice is seen as a way to tap into our innate qualities of compassion and courage and as a way to affect the threads of interdependence, bringing about greater degrees of happiness and auspiciousness for all who live.

Amongst the many Tibetan lineages of Tara practice, the legacy of the Indian pandit Atīśa Dipankara stands out as particularly influential; the practices of White Tara, Green Tara, and the Twenty One Taras that he introduced to Tibet are still actively used and have been integrated into the practical repertoire of many Tibetan lineages. Atīśa, famous also for his teachings on mind training (Tib. lojong), was an avid practitioner of Tara, and passed this love on to his Tibetan disciples. He also wrote a number of beautiful Tara texts that we can easily integrate into our own Tara practice.

In this 3-hour seminar with the Tibetan Buddhist translator Michael Lobsang Tenpa, we will explore the role of Tara in Atisha’s one life, look at Atisha’s presentation of the 21 Taras, and discuss a number of simple Tara meditations that stem from Atisha’s legacy.