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多羅菩薩

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Tārā Bodhisattva

Senses:

  • A figure in the Court of the Lotus Division 蓮華部院 in the Garbhadhātu maṇḍala 胎藏界曼荼羅. Blue-white in color 靑白色. She wears a small headdress adorned with an emanation buddha 化佛. The word tārā means pupil, thus it is believed Tārā is born from the sparkle of Avalokitêśvaraʼs eye. The Darijing shu 大日經疏 (T 1796; fasc. 5) states the meaning is eye–the expansive eye 普眼 takes in beings 攝受群生. She is furthermore identified as a woman neither too old nor too young as she is neither behind time nor ahead of it. The color blue represents placation 降伏 while white represents great compassion 大悲. Her depiction shows her smiling with palms together holding a blue lotus (representing purity and being unsoiled 淨無垢), hands and face directed to Avalokitêśvara 觀音. Her aura 圓光 is a color like pure gold 淨金色. She wears a white garment 白衣. Her hair is made into a 'heavenly coil' 天髻, which is different form the hair and headdress 髮冠 of Mahāvairocana 大日. Seed syllables: tā, tra. Mantra: namaḥ samantabuddhānāṃ tare tāriṇi karuṇodbhave svāhā. (Tib. sgrol ma) (Skt. Tāraṇī). Translated into Chinese as 瞳子 and 妙目精.

    References:

    Somekawa, Eisuke, Michihiko Komine, Tenyū Koyama, Hisao Takahashi, and Takayuki Hirosawa. 1993. Mandara zuten曼荼羅図典 . Tokyo:  Daihōrinkaku.

    〔十住毘婆沙論 T 1521.26.44c9〕 > [Jeffrey Kotyk, Charles Muller; source(s): Ui, Nakamura,Soothill, Hirakawa, YBh-Ind]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 680

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 900c

    Fo Guang Dictionary 2334

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0316

    Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono) ⑦115c

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)3537c

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1117-2

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 209

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2002-03-19

    Updated: 2016-06-26