Green Tara, The Practice of Releasing Suffering

Last updated on: January 28, 2015 at 8:00 am by Erick DuPree

Green Tara, The Practice of Releasing Suffering 2015-01-28T08:00:16-04:00 Erick DuPree

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Green Tara. Image courtesy of the author. My love affair with Green Tara and her soothing OM TARA TUTTARE TURE SOHA chant is endless. How many of us come into the presence of divinity unintentionally? I didn’t actively seek this relationship with her, but she wouldn’t let me go. What started as a month-long practice in healing others has become a partnership that is dynamic in the exchange. She brings me into a state of communion as a conduit.

I find that I whisper words about her endlessly, I seek her images online, and I chant her mantra almost nightly. I chant to ease the ‘dis’-ease in people’s lives that leads to suffering. Chanting is alchemy, the great transmuter of the challenges faced by many. When chanting to Green Tara, I invite the compassion that all faces of humanity need. Though Tara is portrayed a goddess, manifested in female form, she is essentially formless and genderless. She is the embodiment of the all, the Shakti that flows in, among, and around us. She is immanent and transcendent. Enlightened beings are said to be beyond the limiting conditions of ordinary human consciousness. In her Green Tara form, she symbolizes awakened activity and deep compassion. It is not uncommon for Tara to come to us, as she did me, in visions of green smoke. When I chant her mantra, I feel and envision green smoke wafting around me, my chanting dancing on this expression of Tara’s presence.

In my chanting practice I serve as Tara’s agent, absorbing the suffering of others and lifting them up to Tara, where she transmutes the suffering and transforms it into blessings. My work with Goddess Tara is truly amazing, because it balances my own suffering and empowers my intuition and empathy. In the devotional chanting, my awareness expands and I can feel the power of the blessings of Tara. I can see her touching the suffering of those whom she has guided me to chant for. I do not always know why, but I always know there is a need for those whom I chant for.

Tara continues to anoint my practice with her powerful, compassionate and forgiving love. I find the mantra very calming and relaxing. It helps quiet the noise in my mind and aligns my breathing, moving me into centeredness. Each evening, I light candles as puja that I have blessed, and I let go of any clinging to particular outcomes and instead open myself to Tara. Since I have been chanting, I have come into a presence of inner compassion. Friendliness and tolerance flower in our being as the qualities of Tara manifest.

I recite Green Tara’s mantra 108 times as part of my daily practice. I chant for myself, I chant for those Tara has steered me to, and I welcome others to chant with me. The more her healing mantra OM TARA TUTTARE TURE SOHA is chanted, the more suffering is transmuted into blessings. Together, we can begin the healing of the world and open ourselves to the deepest and most profound self. If you are looking to invite Tara into your life, please visit my Chanting Green Tara Page. Here you can download a Green Tara puja card, learn the mantra, and request to be included in my devotionals to Green Tara.

You can also discover the power of manifesting Tara’s 21 Faces with my colleague Yeshe Rabbit Matthew’s 21 Tara Tuesdays, a Tuesday evening 7 pm PST online practice. Each week they explore one of the 21 manifestations of Tara with a a brief informational session and chanting at Tea & Chanting, www.teaandchanting.com.

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