In Tara's Garden
9.5 x 15.75 inches
ingredients: vintage book cover, image transfers, acrylic ink, Derwent watercolor pencils, cut-outs, metallic pens, Pitt artist pens, monotype, woodblock prints, found objects, brads
Tara is known primarily as the Tibetan Buddhist bodhisattva (enlightened being) of compassion and action. According to
Wikipedia, "Tārā came to be seen as an expression of the compassion of perfected wisdom... Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in sansara (the cycle of suffering, death, and re-birth)."
Tara is one of the earliest known dieties; her origins are not entirely clear, but some scholars believe she may come from pre-Buddhist animist religions in Tibet. She has many different forms or aspects, of which Green Tara is one of the most popular. Green Tara (
Khadiravani) is usually associated with protection from fear.
According to
wildmind Buddhist meditation, "Green Tara is a forest goddess, and in one story is shown as
being clad in leaves. Her Pure Land, in distinction to others that are
composed of precious gems, is said to be lush and verdant:
Covered with manifold trees and creepers, resounding with the sound of many birds,
And with murmur of waterfalls, thronged with wild beasts of many kinds;
Many species of flowers grow everywhere.
She is therefore a female form of the "Green Man" figure who is found
carved in many European churches and cathedrals, and who is found in
the Islamic traditions as the figure Al-Khidr."
