A gift of Tara

Just two nights ago, Tsem Rinpoche asked Pastor Jean Ai, Pastor Niral and myself, which statue we would pick out of a selection of Amitabhas, Chenrezigs and White Taras. I pondered for awhile and finally, I forced myself to pick Tara. It’s a difficult choice! It’s not that I am so holy but I am also greedy…spiritually greedy. Hehe! Pastor Niral and Pastor Jean Ai picked Chenrezig and so, I was the odd one out. For a moment, I wondered if I had made the wrong choice but I stuck with it.

Rinpoche asked each of us why we picked that particularly Buddha. I told rinpoche that I didn’t know why initially and then, I said that although, I am pretty much a Manjushri fanatic but I have grown to like Tara very much from what I have read and that she’s very ‘sensitive’. Well, I read that she had been tremendously influential to many great Tibetan and Indian masters. In fact, she told Atisha to go to Tibet to spread the Dharma there in a vision. From my readings, Tara and Je Tsongkhapa statues were the 2 deities that seemed to manifest the most miracles in Tibet and Nepal. There are many incidences of speaking Tara statues and so forth.

Rinpoche also said that Kyabje Zong Rinpoche told a disciple once that it would not be necessary to consecrate a Tara statue because she’s already blessed on her own accord. Rinpoche said that the protector likes Tara very much and that he told him through an oracle to spread Tara’s practice among other practices. He said that Tara must be very effective for us and that has got to do with the vows she made before she became enlightened that sealed her affinity with us. Naturally, it is not that she is superior to other Buddhas but the fact that she has closer affinity with us due to her vows and our karma.

Then Rinpoche gave us each a statue of the deity that we have chosen and blessed us by placing the statue on our heads while folding our hands. I was in cloud 9!

For Pastor Jean Ai’s account of why she picked Chenrezig – http://www.elenakhong.com/2014/08/23/a-gift-of-kindness/