White Tara — the gentle goddess of compassion, healing, and long life — is one of the most beloved female deities of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism: a serene, maternal bodhisattva who looks upon all beings with seven eyes of compassion and grants health, longevity, and protection. She is one of the principal forms of Tara, the great female bodhisattva born from the tears of [avalokiteshvara].
Born from a Tear of Compassion
Tara was born, the tradition tells, from the tears of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara: gazing upon the endless suffering of beings, he wept, and from his tears arose Tara, the female embodiment of compassion in action, the swift saviouress who comes to the aid of all in distress. Tara appears in many forms and colours; White Tara is her aspect of compassion, healing, serenity, and especially long life and the overcoming of obstacles to a long and fruitful spiritual practice.
The Goddess of Seven Eyes
White Tara is depicted as a beautiful, serene goddess, white as the autumn moon, seated in meditation with one hand in the gesture of giving and the other in the gesture of protection or teaching. Her most distinctive feature is her seven eyes: the usual two, plus an eye in her forehead, and eyes in the palms of both hands and the soles of both feet — the seven eyes of compassion with which she watches over all beings in all directions, seeing every form of suffering and need. She is the very image of maternal, all-seeing care.
The Healer and Giver of Life
White Tara is invoked above all for healing, for long life, and for the removal of the obstacles — illness, accident, untimely death — that cut short life and practice. Her practice is one of the most popular in Tibetan Buddhism, performed for the long life of teachers and loved ones and for one’s own health and longevity. Gentle, compassionate, and accessible, she is a goddess to whom the devoted turn in times of sickness, danger, and need. In White Tara, Buddhism gave form to compassionate healing and the gift of life — the serene seven-eyed goddess born of compassion’s tears, who watches over all beings with maternal care and grants health, long life, and protection to all who call upon her.