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Tara ((サンスクリット:तारा), ; Tib. སྒྲོལ་མ, Dölma) or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dölma (Tibetan language:''rje btsun sgrol ma'') in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. In Japan, she is known as ''Tara Bosatsu'' (多羅菩薩), and little-known as ''Duōluó Púsà'' (多羅菩薩) in Chinese Buddhism.〔(Buddhist Deities: Bodhisattvas of Compassion )〕 Tara is a tantric meditation deity whose practice is used by practitioners of the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism to develop certain inner qualities and understand outer, inner and secret teachings about compassion and emptiness. ''Tara'' is actually the generic name for a set of Buddhas or bodhisattvas of similar aspect. These may more properly be understood as different aspects of the same quality, as bodhisattvas are often considered metaphors for Buddhist virtues. The most widely known forms of Tārā are: *Green Tārā, (Syamatara) known as the Buddha of enlightened activity *White Tārā, (Sitatara) also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra *Red Tārā, (Kurukulla) of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things *Black Tārā, associated with power *Yellow Tārā, (Bhrikuti) associated with wealth and prosperity *Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger *Cittamani Tārā, a form of Tārā widely practiced at the level of Highest Yoga Tantra in the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, portrayed as green and often conflated with Green Tārā *Khadiravani Tārā (Tārā of the acacia forest), who appeared to Nagarjuna in the Khadiravani forest of South India and who is sometimes referred to as the "22nd Tārā" There is also recognition in some schools of Buddhism of ''twenty-one Tārās''. A practice text entitled ''In Praise of the 21 Tārās'', is recited during the morning in all four sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The main Tārā mantra is the same for Buddhists and Hindus alike: . It is pronounced by Tibetans and Buddhists who follow the Tibetan traditions as . ==Emergence of Tārā as a Buddhist deity== Within Tibetan Buddhism Tārā is regarded as a Bodhisattva of compassion and action. She is the female aspect of Avalokiteśvara and in some origin stories she comes from his tears: Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in saṃsāra. Whether the Tārā figure originated as a Buddhist or Hindu goddess is unclear and remains a source of dispute among scholars. Mallar Ghosh believes her to have originated as a form of the goddess Durga in the Hindu Puranas. Today, she is worshipped both in Buddhism and in Shaktism as one of the ten Mahavidyas. It may be true that goddesses entered Buddhism from Shaktism (i.e. the worship of local or folk goddesses prior to the more institutionalized Hinduism which had developed by the early medieval period (i.e. Middle kingdoms of India). Possibly the oldest text to mention a Buddhist goddess is the ''Prajnaparamita Sutra'' (translated into Chinese from the original Sanskrit c. 2nd century CE), around the time that Mahayana was becoming the dominant school of thought in Indian and Chinese Buddhism. Thus, it would seem that the feminine principle makes its first appearance in Buddhism as the goddess who personified prajnaparamita. Tārā came to be seen as an expression of the compassion of perfected wisdom only later, with her earliest textual reference being the ''Mañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa'' (c. 5th–8th centuries CE). The earliest, solidly identifiable image of Tārā is most likely that which is still found today at cave 6 within the rock-cut Buddhist monastic complex of the Ellora Caves in Maharashtra (c. 7th century CE), with her worship being well established by the onset of the Pala Empire in Northeast India (8th century CE). Tārā became a very popular Vajrayana deity with the rise of Tantra in 8th-century Pala and, with the movement of Indian Buddhism into Tibet through Padmasambhava, the worship and practices of Tārā became incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism as well.〔 She eventually came to be considered the "Mother of all Buddhas," which usually refers to the enlightened wisdom of the Buddhas, while simultaneously echoing the ancient concept of the Mother Goddess in India. Independent of whether she is classified as a deity, a Buddha, or a bodhisattva, Tārā remains very popular in Tibet (and Tibetan communities in exile in Northern India), Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, and is worshiped in a majority of Buddhist communities throughout the world (see also Guanyin, the female aspect of Avalokitesvara in Chinese Buddhism). Today, Green Tara and White Tara are probably the most popular representations of Tara. Green Tara (''Khadiravani'') is usually associated with protection from fear and the following eight obscurations: lions (= pride), wild elephants (= delusion/ignorance), fires (= hatred and anger), snakes (= jealousy), bandits and thieves (= wrong views, including fanatical views), bondage (= avarice and miserliness), floods (= desire and attachment), and evil spirits and demons (= deluded doubts). As one of the three deities of long life, White Tara (''Sarasvati'') is associated with longevity. White Tara counteracts illness and thereby helps to bring about a long life. She embodies the motivation that is compassion and is said to be as white and radiant as the moon. File:The Buddhist Goddess Shyama Tara (Green Tara) Attended by Sita Tara (White Tara) and Bhrikuti LACMA M.84.32.1a-d.jpg|Shyama Tara (Green Tara) Attended by Sita Tara (White Tara) and Bhrikuti. ca. 8th century. Image:Javanese - The Buddhist Goddess Tara - Walters 572282.jpg|''The Buddhist Goddess Tara'', gold and silver, ca. 9th century..〔(【引用サイトリンク】The Walters Art Museum ">url= http://art.thewalters.org/detail/35047 )〕 The Walters Art Museum. File:Green Tara. Sumtsek hall at Alci monastery, Ladakh, ca. 11th century.jpg|Green Tārā, (Syamatara) known as the Buddha of enlightened activity, ca. 11th century. File:White Tara.jpg|Sita (White) Tara by Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar. Mongolia, ca. 17th century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tara (Buddhism)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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