Green Tara Symbolism: What Her Hands, Flower, Colour and Posture Mean

Green Tara's symbols are usually read like this: her right hand, lowered in the gesture of giving, stands for generosity; her left hand at the heart grants refuge, its raised fingers often explained as the Three Jewels; the blue utpala flower is tied to the Dharma; her green colour places her in the activity family of the Buddha Amoghasiddhi; and her extended right leg shows she is ready to act. These readings come from different teachers, texts and curators, and they do not always agree.

We are a small thangka studio, so we name the source for each reading. Our main guide to Green Tara covers how she is drawn; here we ask what each part means.

Green Tara mudras: what her two hand gestures mean

Green Tara makes two mudras, one with each hand:

• Right hand: varada mudra, the gesture of giving. The hand rests over the right knee, palm open, fingers down. Natalie R. Marsh, in her Huntington Archive essay, glosses varada mudra as "the boon-granting gesture"; National Museums Liverpool describes a small bronze Green Tara (16.6.05.80b) with her right hand "in the gesture of charity or blessing or varada mudra," and the British Museum describes a ninth-century stone Tara (1964,0617.2) with "one hand in varada mudra." It is traditionally said to express her generosity.
• Left hand: the refuge mudra, also called the Three Jewels mudra. The hand is raised at the heart, thumb touching one finger, three fingers up, holding the flower stem. Dudjom Rinpoche's practice text calls it "the gesture of granting refuge, symbolizing the Three Jewels." One Buddhist dictionary, the Concise Tibetan Sanskrit English Chinese Buddhist Dictionary on Gosok Rinpoche's website, gives a Sanskrit name for this gesture, "Sharanagamana Mudra" (śaraṇagamana mudrā), which it also calls the Three Jewels or refuge-giving mudra, and says "the three fingers represent the three jewels." The entry describes the gesture in general and does not mention Tara. The Deji Art Museum describes the same left hand on a Ming dynasty gilt-bronze Green Tara as the Three Jewels mudra (三宝严印) and the right as the boon-granting mudra (与愿印).

Labels vary. National Museums Scotland describes a nineteenth-century gilded-bronze Green Tara (A.1963.397) with her "hands in charity and argument mudra", and Himalayan Art Resources' description of a Rubin painting calls the left hand "a mudra of blessing." What follows is what each gesture is said to mean, source by source.

The practice texts name both gestures. In Lotsawa House's translation of Dudjom Rinpoche's Daily Green Tārā Practice (Samye Translations, trans. Stefan Mang), the lines read: "Her right hand is in the gesture of supreme generosity," and "Her left hand in the gesture of granting refuge, symbolizing the Three Jewels." A practice text composed by the monk Gendun Drub at Tashi Lungpo, published by Jewel Heart, uses almost the same pair of terms. Both are sadhanas for initiated practitioners, not beginner material; Lotsawa House marks the Dudjom text "Restricted," noting that "Vajrayāna Buddhism places restrictions on the reading and practice of certain texts." We quote them only for how they describe her.

The right hand: varada mudra, the gesture of giving

The right hand rests near the right knee, palm open, fingers pointing down. In Sanskrit this is varada mudra, and catalogues translate it a little differently. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, describing a ninth-century Green Tara, calls it "the gesture of charity (varada mudra)." The Rubin Museum's entry for a fourteenth-century bronze (C2003.11.1) says, "The right hand is extended in a giving gesture," while another Rubin entry (C2005.16.45) calls it "the gesture of granting wishes and blessings." Jeff Watt of Himalayan Art Resources describes it plainly as "the right hand extended forward in a gesture of generosity with the fingers pointed downward and the palm facing upward."

The teacher Lama Döndrup Drölma, writing in Lion's Roar, says the open hand expresses "her compassionate, open-hearted generosity."

Not every Green Tara gives with the right hand. Watt notes that in some ritual texts the hand is "slightly raised with the fingers upward and the palm facing forward in a gesture of fearlessness." The Cleveland Museum of Art mentions a "fear-not gesture" for its thirteenth-century Green Tara without saying which hand makes it; its own image description says "Her right hand is down."

The left hand at the heart: the refuge mudra and the Three Jewels

The left hand is raised in front of the chest. The thumb touches one finger, the remaining three point upward, and the stem of the flower runs up between them. Lama Döndrup Drölma explains both parts: "Green Tara's joined thumb and finger represent her realization of the union of wisdom and compassion," while "her other three fingers represent her confidence in the three jewels: the Buddha, dharma, and sangha." She adds that holding the gesture at the heart communicates "that she's never separated from awakened mind."

Lion's Roar and a text by Thartse Panchen Namka Chime, quoted by Watt on Himalayan Art Resources, put the flower stem between the thumb and ring finger. The Gendun Drub text says she "holds the stem of an utpala flower between thumb and forefinger."

Lindsay O'Connor, writing on the Dallas Museum of Art blog about an eighteenth-century gilt Tara there, writes that "Her hand gestures, or mudras, symbolize protection and boon granting." We report that as a description, and we make no promise that any image protects or grants anything.

What does the utpala flower mean?

The flower in Green Tara's hand is an utpala. Wikipedia's article on the word gives Nymphaea nouchali, the "blue lotus," as its first meaning and notes that "the utpala becomes specific to the Green Tara form." Its article on Tara, citing Robert Beer, says Tārā is "most often shown with the blue lotus or night lotus," a flower "which releases its fragrance with the appearance of the moon."

As for meaning, Lama Döndrup Drölma writes: "The lotus symbolizes the capacity of the dharma to manifest in and liberate us from the 'mud' of cyclic existence." The art historian Natalie R. Marsh, in an essay for the Huntington Archive, describes rather than interprets: in the Khadiravani form, named for "the paradise in which Tara is said to dwell," she "usually holds a blue lotus, or utpala," and the form amplifies her role in "aiding travelers through dangerous natural environments." We found no authoritative key to every bud and bloom on the stem, so we offer none.

One flower or two?

Many texts give her one flower, held in the left hand. The textual example quoted on Himalayan Art Resources says the left hand "holds with the thumb and ring finger an utpala to the heart." Paintings often show two, one at each shoulder. Himalayan Art Resources keeps a separate category for this version, describing "two blue utpala flowers, a single stem held in the right and left hands." The Asia Society's fourteenth-century Green Tara holds "blue lotuses... one open and one closed, in either hand." The Rubin Museum says of one of its bronzes that the second lily "was added for reasons of symmetry" and carries no iconographic significance.

Why is Green Tara green?

The most common answer links her to the Buddha Amoghasiddhi. Marsh makes the same connection, associating Tara's green with Amoghasiddhi, the green Buddha of the North who heads the action family. The Cleveland Museum of Art says of its painting: "Her green color and fear-not gesture link her to the cosmic Buddha of the North, enshrined above her head."

The Metropolitan Museum's early Tibetan painting Buddha Amoghasiddhi with Eight Bodhisattvas says he "is identifiable by his green color," and of the five Taras painted below him notes that "the green one relates specifically to the central deity." The Met calls his raised right hand "a gesture that extends protection to devotees"; we report that as the museum's description, and we make no such promise.

Lion's Roar gives a reading from practice rather than art history: "The color green is associated with enlightened activity, wisdom, and compassion in action," and "Green is also associated with the wind element, and Tara's green form expresses her unwavering commitment to act for the benefit of beings with the swiftness of the wind."

Not everyone places her in the same family. Wikipedia's Tara article quotes Thubten Chodron's book How to Free Your Mind that "Amitabha Buddha is the head of the family to which both Tara and Chenresig belong."

The shade varies: Lama Palden Drolma, in another Lion's Roar piece, calls her "blue-green, the color of a mountain lake," and the Gendun Drub text says "bluish green."

What does Green Tara's posture mean?

Her left leg is tucked in; her right steps down onto a small lotus of its own. LACMA's catalogue names this lalita asana, "with her right leg pendant."

Several sources read the extended leg alike. Lama Döndrup Drölma: "Her extended right leg represents compassion, as she's primed to leap up the moment we call upon her." The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, describing a clay Tara made in Tsang in 1995, says "she extends her right leg to signify her constant availability to assist those in need." O'Connor's Dallas Museum of Art post speaks of her "right leg extended, ever-ready to leap to the aide of the suffering." These describe what the image expresses; we make no promise that any image or practice brings help.

The folded leg gets less attention. Lama Döndrup Drölma writes: "Her left leg is drawn in, representing that through her contemplative practice she's realized wisdom." Marsh reads the whole pose together: it shows "her simultaneous preparedness to rise and come to the aid of a practitioner in need," and also the wisdom to judge when stepping in is right. We found no reliable source calling the folded leg "renunciation," so we leave that word out.

Texts vary: Dudjom's has her "seated cross-legged in bodhisattva posture," Gendun Drub's "Sitting with my right foot drawn and left extended." Jeff Watt on Himalayan Art Resources describes her "seated with the right leg extended and the left drawn up," and that is how our thangkas show her.

What do her jewels, crown and youthful form mean?

She wears silks and jewellery. Lion's Roar reads them as her qualities: generosity, joyful diligence, patience, ethical conduct, concentration and wisdom, which "adorn her as fine silks and jewel-encrusted earrings, necklaces, and bangles." The same article says "Her golden crown expresses her realization of the five disturbing emotions as being wisdom in their essence," and that her hair, "partially drawn into a topknot," symbolizes full realization, while the hair falling loose shows her commitment to beings still in difficulty.

She is also young. Gendun Drub's text has the practitioner say, "My appearance is that of a sixteen-year old girl, peaceful and gentle." Wikipedia, citing John Blofeld, notes that "Tārā is frequently depicted as a young sixteen-year-old girlish woman." Marsh calls her young, "with great energy to do good for her followers." None offers a fixed symbolic key for the age.

The seed syllable TAM and the mantra

Her seed syllable is TAM. The two restricted sadhanas quoted above place a green TAM on a moon disc at her heart, and in Lama Palden Drolma's Lion's Roar guide Tara appears "from her seed syllable TAM." That guide gives her mantra as "Om Tare Tu Tare Ture So Ha"; see the Green Tara mantra explained. For a simpler starting point, see our separate Green Tara meditation for beginners.

Green Tara symbols at a glance

Seeing the symbols in a Green Tara thangka

Our own Green Tara thangkas start from our own drawings kept to traditional proportions, printed on heavy card with eco-friendly inks. Each one is then finished by hand at a temple by elderly lay Buddhists who set glass crystals one by one and trace outlines in gold glitter, about two days per piece. Framed, they measure 55 × 71 × 12 cm and weigh about 4 kg, with an image of 40.2 × 56.2 cm, and start at US$570. Part of every order goes to the temple, and an optional temple consecration is available for US$100, offered in full to the temple. See also how to choose a Green Tara thangka and how to hang and care for one.

Green Tara symbolism questions

What is Green Tara's mudra called?

Green Tara has two mudras. The right hand makes varada mudra, the gesture of giving (museums say charity or blessing). The left makes the gesture of granting refuge, which one Buddhist dictionary gives in Sanskrit as śaraṇagamana mudrā, also called the Three Jewels mudra.

What do the three raised fingers mean?

Dudjom Rinpoche's text says the refuge gesture symbolizes the Three Jewels, and Lion's Roar names them as the Buddha, dharma and sangha.

What does the utpala flower symbolize?

Lion's Roar reads it as the Dharma's power to free us from the "mud" of cyclic existence. Natalie R. Marsh notes that it is held in Tara's Khadiravani form.

Why is Green Tara green?

The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Met and Natalie R. Marsh link her green to Amoghasiddhi, the green Buddha of the North. Thubten Chodron, as quoted on Wikipedia, instead places her in Amitabha's family.

Why is one of Green Tara's legs extended?

Lion's Roar, Marsh and two museums read it as readiness to help; Lion's Roar reads the folded leg as wisdom.

How is Green Tara's symbolism different from White Tara's?

Wikipedia notes White Tara holds a white lotus rather than the utpala. See Green Tara vs White Tara and our White Tara guide.

Read the hands, flower and foot, and the painting explains itself.

Sources

• Dudjom Rinpoche, Daily Green Tārā Practice, trans. Stefan Mang, Samye Translations (Lotsawa House; marked restricted)
• Natalie R. Marsh, "Mirrors of the Heart-Mind: Taras" (Huntington Archive, 1998)
• Concise Tibetan Sanskrit English Chinese Buddhist Dictionary, "Sharanagamana Mudra" (gosokrinpoche.com)
• Deji Art Museum, Gilt-Bronze Green Tārā (鎏金铜绿度母像)
• National Museums Scotland, figure of Green Tara, A.1963.397
• Himalayan Art Resources, item 87: Green Tara, Rubin Museum of Art F1997.6.5
• National Museums Liverpool, Green Tara, 16.6.05.80b
• British Museum, seated Tara, 1964,0617.2

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More from the Journal: Green Tara · Green Tara Mantra · Green Tara vs White Tara · How to Choose a Green Tara Thangka · What Is a Thangka? · Tibetan Buddhist Deities Guide