Tara Meditation On Hope—Ven. Robina Courtin

World-renowned Buddhist nun, Venerable Robina Courtin, guides a beautiful Tara meditation on hope that uses visualization and Tibetan Buddhist teachings to uplift the mind and evoke positive thoughts.

Transcript

So people,

Just relax.

Feel that this is a very natural activity.

Don't think,

Oh,

I'm meditating,

It's special.

It's just using our minds.

We're using our minds to think a certain way,

Because every thought counts.

That's very optimistic.

Every thought counts.

So having five minutes of positive thoughts,

Imagining positive things,

Is very beneficial for our mind.

It can be very uplifting.

So just imagine in front of us this embodiment of the enlightened qualities,

Buddha,

Enlightened qualities,

And it's in this form,

A female form.

So imagine this person,

Very radiant,

Very beautiful,

And she's sitting on a multicolored lotus,

And her left leg is drawn in like in meditation,

But her right leg,

She's sitting,

It's resting on another little multicolored lotus in a relaxed posture,

Sort of like ready to hop up to help others,

Because she represents optimism and action energy.

Female energy is often depicted in that way,

Action energy.

Get things done,

Cut through the obstacles,

Make things happen,

Be successful.

We all need that badly.

Her name is Tara.

In Tibetan,

Droma,

Liberator.

She's known as Liberator.

So she's kind of got green light.

This is meant to be action energy.

Imagine she's got a green light body,

Very radiant,

Very beautiful face,

So beautiful.

She's got one hand on her right knee,

The fingers pointing up,

And she's holding the stem of a blue upala flower,

Blue lotus,

And it blooms at her right ear,

And the hand is pointing upwards in this gesture or mudra of giving,

Of generosity.

And her left hand at her heart,

Her fingers pointing up,

And she's holding the stem of another blue upala flower that blooms at her left ear,

And this is,

I think,

In the mudra or gesture of,

I think,

Enlightenment,

I forget,

Or maybe it's the three,

Whatever,

Something.

And she's everything's beautiful.

She's radiantly beautiful in these lovely silken kind of clothes.

Everything's made of light,

And her face is so beautiful,

You know.

And you see her sitting there in front of you about eye level,

And she's sitting on this multicolored lotus,

And you think she's a mirror image of your own potential.

She's showing you what you can become,

This positive,

Optimistic,

Compassionate,

Full of action energy,

Full of ability to make things happen,

Be successful,

Cut through the obstacles.

Imagine she represents that.

So now you just imagine she sends from her brow these radiant laser beams of white light that enter your brow,

Penetrating and filling your body completely,

Okay.

And you imagine this white light,

These laser beams,

Completely purify all the aches and pains of your body,

The heaviness of this body of ours that we find so difficult sometimes.

But also think it also purifies anything with all the imprints in our mind,

From images,

To thoughts,

To feelings,

From anything we've ever done to harm others in the past,

We've forgotten about probably.

It purifies all of that and fills us with this white light.

And we imagine now it fills us with this marvelous potential to only be able to benefit others with our body.

Imagine that,

Full of this radiant white light purifying all the nonsense and filling our body with this light,

And the body's light,

And can imagine it can only benefit others.

Imagine that,

Full of this blissful white light.

So thinking now,

Whoever sees us and hears us and smells us and touches us,

The birds,

The ants,

The humans,

They can only be benefited by my body.

Can you imagine that?

How incredible.

Full of this blissful white light.

So now you imagine,

From her throat,

She sends these radiant laser beams of red light that enter your throat,

Penetrate and fill you completely and completely purify all the nonsense of our speech.

Sometimes we don't know what we're saying,

We say crazy things,

We can't explain things properly,

We feel ashamed of our speech,

Embarrassed,

Or our speech that's lies,

Or speculation,

Or angry speech,

Or harmful speech,

All the harm we've ever done with our speech to other sentient beings.

Imagine all of this completely purified,

Full of this blissful red light.

All the nonsense purified,

Gone,

Full of this red light.

And now you think that whatever you say,

Even your laugh,

Even just saying good morning,

Can only be of benefit to whoever hears you.

Can you imagine?

I mean,

We need this.

Speech is so powerful,

We want people to believe us,

We want to be of benefit to others.

Even just if you smile at a person,

Say hello,

Think it will be of benefit to them,

And all the birds as well,

And the animals,

And the humans who hear you.

How amazing.

You can only benefit others now with your speech,

Full of this potential and this blissful red light.

So now you imagine Buddhatara so compassionately sends radiant beams of blue light,

Blue like the sky,

From her heart in the center of her chest,

Penetrating our heart,

Filling us completely with this radiant blue light.

And what this does is purify instantly all the pain and misery of our minds,

Our attachment,

Our neediness,

Our anger,

Our pain,

Our jealousy,

Resentment,

Anxiety,

Despair,

Depression.

These are not at the core of our being.

This is what's amazing.

They're there,

They're real,

They cause pain and suffering,

But they're not intrinsic to us.

They don't define us.

And we can eventually rid our minds totally.

So imagine this blue light totally purifying,

Instantly,

Instantly filling you,

Annihilating all this nonsense that is not at the core of our being,

That does not define us.

Imagine this,

How incredible,

Such a relief,

Full of this blissful blue light.

All the delusions gone,

All the nonsense gone.

So now imagine what's left.

If that's all gone,

What's left?

Well,

Guess what?

What's left is all the qualities that are at the core of our being.

Our love,

Our contentment,

Our fulfillment,

Our self-confidence,

Our clarity,

Our joy,

Our compassion,

Our kindness.

These are what define us.

It's a feeling full of this,

This marvelous potential of our own mind,

This blissful blue light.

And the bonus of all this is joy,

Happiness,

Fulfillment,

Joy.

Imagine this is the bonus.

And these are who we really are.

This is our natural state.

It's so joyful,

Full of this blissful blue light,

This marvelous potential.

So now imagine that the lotus,

The multicolored lotus that Tara's sitting on,

Dissolves into her body,

Into light.

And then you imagine she comes and sits above our crown,

Facing the same way as us,

Radiant green lady,

Full of power and compassion and action energy.

And then she happily dissolves into green light,

Into our body,

And dissolves through our crown and completely fills us.

And we think that,

You know,

Buddha,

Tara's body,

Speech,

And mind,

And my body,

Speech,

And mind become the same.

This is who I am.

Infinite wisdom,

Infinite joy,

Infinite clarity,

Infinite compassion and ability to benefit others.

Feel full of this.

This is my true nature.

So now you think,

Now you've become Tara,

What about everybody else?

You know,

Why have I become a perfectly enlightened being so I can be of benefit to others?

Because we're all in the same boat.

So imagine the whole universe full of all the friends,

Enemies,

And strangers,

Objects of our attachment,

Objects of our aversion,

And objects of our indifference.

So imagine in front of us the objects of our aversion,

The people who've harmed us,

The mean people,

The ugly people.

And to the left,

Our beloveds,

The objects of our attachment.

Just imagine them there.

And then in front of us,

To the right and above,

To the sides,

Below,

Everywhere,

Filling the universe are all the objects of our indifference,

All the strangers,

Friends,

Enemies,

And strangers.

There's no fourth category.

All living beings,

Imagine the whole of space full.

So now you imagine that they all,

Every one of them equally,

Only wants to be happy and only doesn't want to suffer.

So from your heart,

Imagine you send out trillions of tiny green Taras that enter into the hearts of the enemies,

And the friends,

And the strangers.

Everyone throughout the universe,

Above you,

Behind you,

Below you,

In front of you.

Trillions of little green Taras.

You take away all their suffering,

Imagine all their suffering disappears,

And everyone gets exactly what they want.

Happiness,

You know,

Think.

And then you turn them all into Tara.

Trillions and trillions of little green Taras,

They all turn into Tara.

Suffering gone,

Happiness and compassion achieved.

And then just we'll sing a few mantras,

Her mantra,

Which is a sound manifestation of the same energy.

Just a few,

And imagine even the sound going out and blessing all these trillions of beings.

Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha Now you imagine all these trillions of green Taras all over the universe,

All dissolving to you from all directions and enhancing even more brilliantly your compassion,

Your wisdom,

Your action energy,

Your capacity to benefit yourself and others.

All dissolve into you.

And that's it.

Okay?

Reviews

Love the matter-of-fact, clear and concise presentation-it felt so “obvious” and achievable so it was! Wonderful message and practice! Thank you!

Expert accompaniment to veneration and embodiment of tara-- optimisim, action, peace and joy

I love this! One of the most brilliant, loving and FUN meditations I’ve ever done! She has such wonderful energy…and so does Tara💚Will definitely be listening to this regularly 🪷🐚❤️‍🔥👑Thank you for this gift!

Venerable is amazing. She has a way of piercing through all the non sense and speaking directly to your heart. This is a lovely guided meditation on Tara. Thank you 🙏 Venerable.

So wonderful to have a Venerable Robina meditation on insight timer! Thank you!

Wonderful, thank you! I smiled throughout, your attitude is so joyful!