Vintage Tara, Hand Cast Buddhist Stone Relief, Raised Detail, Hanging Plaque, 5 LBS+ retailer

A beautiful vintage Tibetan Buddhist relief, hand cast from bonded stone.

A central Tara figure with two Buddha figures and a lot of animals and various deities throughout.

There is a small chip on one corner on the back side.

Recommended for Indoor use only.

Has a cut out for hanging and a flat back.

See photos as it hangs perfectly.

Weight 5 lbs., 1 oz, unpackaged
Length 13-1/2”
Width. 11-1/2”
Thickness 1/3” variable, thicker in center

Arrives well packaged and secure.

Ships free UPS to 48 states.

Alaska, Hawaii, and P.R. A surcharge for shipping Priority Mail is required. Please contact the shop for the difference in shippng costs to your location.

TARA means “star,” “planet,” or “she who ferries across.”

She is a bodhisattva embodying compassion in the female form of a young goddess.

She is often considered to be such an advanced bodhisattva that she is actually a Buddha.

Tara's name is said to derive from the verb meaning “to cross” or “to traverse”.

In Pali the verb tarati means “to get to the other side.”

This word is cognate with the Latin “trans” (across). The word Tara also literally means “star.”

An interesting overlap between these two senses is the use of stars in navigation.

The Pole Star, used at least for millennia to guide travelers, was known as Dhruva-Tara (the immovable star).

Tara becomes a focal point on the far shore that helps us guide our lives in a safe direction.

We can take her enlightened qualities of wisdom and compassion as our guide, moment by moment, as we navigate our lives.

A third meaning of “tara” is “the pupil of the eye,” again suggesting a focal point and conveying a sense that Tara watches over those who navigate the treacherous waters of life in search of the further shore of liberation.

Tara's name in Tibetan is Dölma, which means “She Who Saves.”

She is seen as guarding against the Eight Great Terrors of lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, imprisonment, shipwreck or drowning, and man-eating demons.

In each case these terrors are symbolic of spiritual dangers.

For example, the First Dalai Lama described the demons against which Tara offers protection as being our self-consuming spiritual doubts.

The word bodhisattva means as “A being set upon enlightenment,” “One whose essence is perfect knowledge,” or “A being whose essence is enlightenment.”

“Bodhisattva” is a compound word formed from bodhi (spiritual awakening, enlightenment) and sattva (a being, essence, spirit).

There is a possibility that the Pali word “satta” was actually a back-formation from the Sanskrit word sakta, meaning “committed to, fixed or intent upon, directed towards.”

The Pali term “bodhisatta” would, from a Sanskrit point of view, have been ambiguous, and it's possible that it was retranslated into Sanskrit wrongly as “enlightenment being” when it should have been re-translated as “one committed to enlightenment.”

The word, however, has several shades of meaning, and we will explore these below.

Three meanings of the word “bodhisattva”
There are three principle meanings of the term bodhisattva:

In early Buddhism, the word bodhisattva (or bodhisatta) referred to the historical Buddha, Gautama, before he attained enlightenment.

This meaning covered his previous lives as well as his last life, up until the moment he became enlightened.

In the early scriptures of the Theravada and other schools, he would refer to his life before enlightenment by saying thinks like, “Before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened Bodhisattva, the thought occurred to me…”There is also a whole class of stories about the Buddha's previous lives called the Jatakas (birth tales) and in those he's referred to as “the Bodhisattva.”

The only other beings referred to as “bodhisattva” are mythic Buddhas of the past and future.

For example Maitreya, the next Buddha in our timeline, is currently a Bodhisattva.

And previous Buddhas mentioned in the scriptures, like Vipassi, are referred to as being bodhisattvas before they became enlightened.

In the later schools of Mahayana Buddhism, the term bodhisattva refers to a human being committed to the attainment of enlightenment for the sake of others.

Becoming a bodhisattva is the goal of Mahayana Buddhism.There are scriptures about how to train as a Bodhisattva, such the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, or Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, also known as the Bodhicaryāvatāra, composed in the 8th century in India by Shantideva (Śāntideva).

This text, which has heavily influenced the practice and teaching of the Dalai Lama, outlines how one develops the Six Perfections of giving, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom.

Anyone who is set upon enlightenment, not just for themselves alone, but for the sake of all sentient beings, can be described as a bodhisattva, although the term is usually reserved for those of advanced spiritual attainment.

It's uncommon, in my experience, for anyone to refer to themselves as a bodhisattva.

The word bodhisattva may also refer in Mahayana Buddhism to archetypal bodhisattvas: mythical beings such as Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri.

These are mythic, non-historical figures.

They are objects of reverence and subjects for meditation.

Meditation practices involving them can include the recitation of verses praising their qualities, the visualization of their forms, and the chanting of their mantras.

Ref: wildmind.org

For Buddha, life is to be lived on Earth, not in Heaven... and Nirvana is not a place, but a state of mind in witch one is released from fear and desire, living in love and compassion here on Earth.

The life story of the Buddha begins in Lumbini, near the border of Nepal and India, about 2,600 years ago, where the man Siddharta Gautama was born.

Although born a prince, he realized that conditioned experiences could not provide lasting happiness or protection from suffering.

After a long spiritual search he went into deep meditation, where he realized the nature of mind.

He achieved the state of unconditional and lasting happiness: the state of enlightenment, of buddhahood.

This state of mind is free from disturbing emotions and expresses itself through fearlessness, joy and active compassion.

For the rest of his life, the Buddha taught anyone who asked how they could reach the same state.

“I teach because you and all beings want to have happiness and want to avoid suffering. I teach the way things are.”
– The Buddha

https://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/buddhism/buddha/ retailer