White Tara Mantra
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAMA AYUH PUNYA JNANA PUSTIME KURU SVAHA.
The Tibetan way to say the mantra is this:
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAMA AYUR PUNE GYANA PUNTIN KURU SOHA
What Does the Mantra Mean and How Do You Use It?
The White Tara mantra begins in the same way as the basic Green Tara mantra, with OM TARE TUTTARE TURE.
In the White Tara version of the mantra, we add MAMA AYUR PUNE GYANA PUNTIN KURU SOHA
This is essentially a strong request (even a demand4) for increased longevity, merit and wisdom, where AYUR, PUNE, and GYANA refer to life, merit and wisdom.
- mama = mine, means that I would like to possess the following qualities.
- ayur = long life
- punya = merit that comes form living life ethically. [Tibetan: pune]
- jnana = wisdom [Tibetan: gyana]
- pushtim = increase [Tibetan: puntin]
- kuru = do so! do it now!
- svaha = hail, or may blessings be upon [Tibetan: soha]
White Tara is the Goddess of Health, Healing and Longevity.
She offers healing to our wounds, whether it is our bodies or our minds that have been hurt.
Sanskrit - Om Tare Tuttare Ture Mama Ayuh Punya Jnana Pustime Kuru Svaha
Tibetan - Om Tare Tuttare Ture Mama Ayur Pune Gyana Puntin Kuru Soha
As a variant form of Green Tara, her mantra begins very similarly. But added to the play on the name of Tara are several words connected with long life and wellbeing.
Mama means “mine” and indicates that you’d like to possess these qualities of long life, merit, wisdom, happiness, etc. You can of course choose to wish these qualities for someone else - perhaps for a teacher or for a loved one who is ill.
Ayuh is long life (as in Ayurvedic medicine).
Punya means the merit that comes from living life ethically, and this merit is said to help one to live long and happily.
Jnana is wisdom.
Punya and Jnana are known as the Two Accumulations. In order to become enlightened we need to accumulate merit (that is, to develop positive qualities through living ethically and meditating) but we also need to develop wisdom through deep reflection. Wisdom cannot arise without a basis of merit, but merit alone is not enough for us to become enlightened, meaning that becoming a nicer person isn’t enough - we have also to look deeply into ourselves and the world around us and to see the impermanent and insubstantial nature of all things.
Pustime means wealth, abundance, or increase.
Kuru is a mythical land to the north of the Himalayas, which was said to be a land of long life and happiness (it may have been the original northern home of the aryans). Perhaps the association with the mythical realm of Kuru doesn’t hurt when doing the mantra. But here the word kuru is a verb form meaning “do it!” or “make it so!” (second person singular active imperative or the root k.r if that’s of any interest to you) which is what it means here. With this “make it so!” we’re imploring White Tara for an increase in wisdom, merit, and long life so that we can gain enlightenment and help all sentient beings.
Svaha is an exclamation meaning “hail” or “may blessings be upon” and is a common ending to Buddhist mantras. So after making the rather bold request of White Tara above, we end with an equally emphatic salutation.
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In Tibetan Buddhism, om tare tuttare ture soha is an ancient mantra that is related to Tara, the “Mother of all Buddhas,” and especially to her manifestation as Green Tara.
Tara, who Tibetaans also call Dolma, is commonly thought to be a Bodhisattva or Buddha of compassion and action, a protector who comes to our aid to relieve us of physical, emotional and spiritual suffering.
Tara has 21 major forms, each of which has a different color and spiritual attribute. Of these 21 forms, two are especially popular among Tibetan people - White Tara, who is associated with compassion and long life, and Green Tara, who is associated with enlightened activity and abundance.
The first Dalai Lama wrote that we can call on her to instantly save us from eight particular dangers, each of which represents a corresponding human mental problem:
lions - pride
wild elephants - delusion and ignorance
forest fires - hatred
snakes - jealousy
robbers - wrong views, including fanatical views
prisons - greed and miserliness
floods - desire and attachment
demons - doubts caused by delusion
► Image Credits: Lama Tashi Norbu, Artist and founder of Museum of Contemporary Tibetan Art.
www.mocta.org