White Tara Tattoo Meaning
Compassion, healing, long life, and the mercy that outlasts every difficulty.
White Tara is the boundless compassion that heals and lengthens life — the serene long-life deity of Tibetan Buddhism, seeing the suffering of all beings through her seven eyes and answering with a mercy so patient and encompassing it outlasts every difficulty. To carry White Tara is to carry compassion, healing, long life, and the mercy that outlasts every difficulty — the Tibetan deity of healing and longevity, the all-seeing compassion that perceives suffering from every direction, the patient inexhaustible mercy.
In Tibetan Buddhism, White Tara is the beloved deity of healing and longevity: White Tara is the long-life deity of Tibetan Buddhism — associated with healing, compassion, and the extension of life; she is invoked in rituals for the health of the sick and the longevity of teachers. White Tara is a serene and radiant form of the great compassionate deity Tara, depicted seated in meditation, white in color, with a gentle and merciful aspect. She is especially associated with long life, healing, and the granting of health and longevity.
White Tara is invoked for these gifts: in rituals and practices for the healing of the sick, for recovery from illness, and for the extension of life — and especially for the long life of revered teachers, so that they may remain in the world to benefit beings. She is the deity to whom one turns for health, healing, and length of days, her compassion expressed in the granting of life and the relief of suffering. With her seven eyes — in her two faces, her palms, and the soles of her feet — she sees the suffering of all beings and responds with healing mercy. The Buddhist White Tara is thus the long-life deity of healing — the serene compassionate goddess invoked for the health of the sick and the longevity of teachers. White Tara is the long-life deity of Tibetan Buddhism, associated with healing, compassion, and longevity, invoked for the health of the sick and the long life of teachers. The Buddhist White Tara is the long-life deity of healing — White Tara is the long-life deity of Tibetan Buddhism, associated with healing, compassion, and the extension of life, invoked in rituals for the health of the sick and the longevity of teachers; a serene and radiant form of the great compassionate deity Tara, depicted seated in meditation, white in color, with a gentle and merciful aspect, especially associated with long life, healing, and the granting of health and longevity — invoked for the healing of the sick, recovery from illness, and the extension of life, and especially for the long life of revered teachers so they may remain in the world to benefit beings, the deity to whom one turns for health and length of days, her compassion expressed in the granting of life and the relief of suffering, with her seven eyes (in her two faces, her palms, and the soles of her feet) seeing the suffering of all beings and responding with healing mercy.
White Tara is depicted with seven eyes: the usual two on her face, one on her forehead (the wisdom eye), and one on each palm and each sole of her feet. The seven eyes represent her all-seeing compassion — she perceives suffering in every direction, from above and below, through her hands and through her steps, missing nothing. She holds a white lotus and sits in full lotus posture — unlike Green Tara, who is always about to stand, White Tara is fully seated, fully still, fully present. She is not swifter than thought; she is deeper than urgency. Her practice is specifically associated with longevity — when a teacher is ill or aging, White Tara rituals are performed. In Tibetan medicine, she is understood as the divine counterpart to the Medicine Buddha, the feminine aspect of healing energy.
White Tara across cultures
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