The Mantra of Green Tara

Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha is the mantra of Tara, the female bodhisattva invoked above all against fear and obstacle, and it is among the Vajrayana mantras that circulate openly rather than being confined to initiates. It is recited daily by many Tibetan Buddhist lay people and printed on flags and in books. The core is built on Tara's name: the tradition reads the escalating forms Tare, Tuttare, Ture as invoking her power to liberate from suffering at successive levels, from ordinary danger to the deep fear rooted in delusion, closed by svaha, the old Vedic exclamation that seals an offering.

Tara is understood to have arisen from the compassion of Avalokiteshvara and to have vowed to attain enlightenment in and to keep a female form, which has made her a focus for reflection on gender within Buddhism. She appears in many forms, the green and white being the most common, associated respectively with active protection and with long life and healing. The openness of her mantra, taught freely, unlike the empowerment-bound formulas of the higher tantras, reflects her character as a swiftly responsive, universally accessible protector.