Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

54 RuthF

i/zparrr'ck

Tara

through

Australian

eyes:

a

dynamic

and

engaged

woman

When I

asked

participants

in the research

whetherGreenTara‘s

gender

or

femaleness

was

important

to

them,

all

responded

withadefinitive

yes.

Diane,

from

VaJrayana

Institute.

said:

‘Oh

absolutely,

she‘safemaleBuddha.‘

Lisa,

from

the

Sakya

group.

said:

‘Absolutely.‘

Elise.

from

theTaraDhatu

group,responded

to

the

question

inamanner

thatindicatedshe

thought

theanswerwas

completely

obvious,

saying,

with

emphasis,

‘ofcourse‘.

Funher

emphasizing

the

significance

of

Tara‘s

gender,

Tara‘svowtobefemale

wasretold

orreferredto

inthreeoutofthe

fourfocus

groups.

Sabrinafrom

the

Tara

Dhatu

group

delighted

inthe factthat

‘Tarachosetomanifestinthe

lemalc

fonn'.With

high-spiritedbody

language

and

enthusiasticallysupportedby

other

membersofthefocus

group,

Sabrina

retellsTara'svow:

‘Byjeez,bygolly,

fromhereon

till I‘llbein

thefemaleform.‘

She

goes

onto

say,

‘moreandmore

the

sacredness

ofwomen‘s

livesisn‘t

being

honoured

you

knowwethinkit

is.

butit‘snot.‘

Sabrinafeltthat

Tara‘svowtobe

femalecould

helpbring

abouta

greaterrespect

forwomen.

Lisa,.

from

the

Sakya

group,

liked thefact that Tara ‘bucked the

system‘.

According

toLisa:

‘Whenthe

monkssaidtoTara

you‘ll

neverbecome

enlightened

asa

woman,

Tara

says.“bull¥!

YesI

will,

andI‘ll

keepreturning

asawoman

just

to

prove

it

.

Lisa

relatesTara‘s

‘bucking

of

the

system‘

toherownformative

years

growmg

up

inAustralia.

She

says:‘[W]e[the

otherfocus

groupmembers]grewup

intheerawhereit

[power

relationsbetween

menand

women]

was

changing

and

you

hadto

tight

the

system

to

help

makeit

change.‘

For

Diane,

fromthe

Gelug

group,

practising

Tarawas

‘about

drawing

outmore

thefemininesideinaculture

that‘s

very

masculinefocused'r

The

datarevealedthatTara‘s

female

gender

wasa

significant

characteristicfor

allthe

participants.

Thiswas

amplified

by

thefactthatshe

deliberately

choseto

be

female.

in

conflictwiththe

conventionally

held

assumption

ofthetimethat

amale

body

was

superior.

TheValueofTara

being

femalewasin

part

seenasa

means‘for

womenand‘thefeminine‘tobe

honouredand

recognized

in

society.

For

Elise.

Tarawas

important

because

visualizing

and

contemplating‘images

of

enlightened

women'was

a

powerfulway

tocontrast

those

images,

which

put

a

‘slantonwomen‘.

Although

allthewomen

affirmedthevalueofTara‘s

gender

andtheneedfor

empowered

female

deities.

the

participants

heldmixedfeelingsaboutfeminism.

Lessthanhalf

ofthe

participants

identifiedasfeminists,Somesawfeminismin

a

positive

light

and

othersinaneutral

way.

Joan.whodidnotconsiderherselfa

feminist

said,

‘Iconsider

feminismtobea

polarized

viewoflifeanddon‘tletsuch

viewsinfluencehowI

conduct

my

way

oflife.‘Yetshe

wasnonetheless

inspired

by

Tara,asshewasa

powerful

and

strong

woman,

Donna

saidthatwhatshelikedaboutTara

andeasternfemaledeitiesisthat

they

are

‘sirong

ferocious

attracting

and

pacifying‘.

Donnawentonto

say

thatinher
background.
referring

to

Christianity

andwestem

culture.the

depiction

ofwomanwas ‘50divided and
thatwasthe

beauty

of

discovering

theeastern

GreenTarain

Australia 55

way

of

looking

at

things

thatitcould

allbeunited.Ididn‘t

haveto

push

one

[disposition]

away

tohaveanother‘.

Through

this

multiplicity,

Donnafindsthat

GreenTara

‘gives

us

[women]permission

to

empower

andliberate

ourselves‘from

limitedfemale

identities.

Another

prominent

themeto

emerge

in the focus

groups,

asevidenced in

Donna's

earlier

statement,

was

the

multiple

and oil

contradictory

character-

isticsthat

Taraembodied.Thiswas

seenas

somethingquite

distincttoTaraand

something

they

hadnotencountered

intheirowncultural

symbols

(Chr

ianor

secular),

Tara’s

multiplicity

wasdescribed

inthemain

prayer

used

in'l‘ararituals.

the

‘Twenty-One

PraisestoTara”.

The

prayer

outlinesthe

characteristicsand

activities

ofZl Taras.Eachverse

inthe

praise

isdedicated

toadifferent

Tara,

although

allTurasareconsideredto

beemanationsofthecentralTara,

GreenTara,

One

Tara,

for

example,

embodies

peaceful

means.Sheis

describedas‘theblissful.

virtuous,

peaceful

one,

shewho

actsfromwithinnirvana‘s

serenity‘(Philbedge

2003:

7).

AnotherTarais

fiercely

wrathful,

shewho

vanquishes

great

fearsand

mighty

devils,

simply

with‘awrathful

twistofherlotusface‘

(Philbedge

2003:

7).

Inreference

toTara‘s

multiplicity,

Sabrinasaidthat

Tara‘s

expression

of‘nll

thosedifferent

aspects‘

and

‘seeing

that allthose

aspects

arevalid‘creates

a

‘sense

of

strength‘.

thatoffsets

the‘hundredsof

years

ofwhatwe‘vebeen

told

womenare'.

‘Honoun'ng

thosediverse

aspects‘,

according

to

Sabrina.

"

way

of

offsetting

limited

notionsofwomanhood.

Sabrina‘suseol‘Tarato

resist

‘whztt

we’vebeen

toldwomenare‘echoesFoucault‘s

notionto‘refuse

whatwe

are’

(Foucault

1982:

216;

Simons1995:

2)

meaning

thatindividualsshould

refuse

tobe

tiedtomodes

ofbeing

thatothers

subject

themto.The

way

inwhich

Green

Tara

wasused

toalter

participants‘

identities

reflectedwhatFoucaultcalled

‘new

techniques

or

practices

oftheself‘.Foucault

describes

practices

ofthe

self,

as

‘a

treasury

of

devices,techniques,

ideasand

procedures‘

(Foucault

l984a:

349).

Foucault

regarded

these

practices

as

significant

in

modifyingpower

relations.

He

paints

the

significances

ofthesenew

practices

oftheselflikethis:

Thecritical

ontology

ofourselveshas

toheconsidered

not,

certainly,

asa

theory,

a

doctrine,

norevenasa

permanent

bodyofknowledge

thatisaccumu-

lating:

ithastobeconceivedofasanattitude.

an

ethos,

a

philosophical

life

in

which

the

critique

ofwhatweareis

atoneandthesametimethehistorical

analysis

ofthelimitsthatare

imposed

onusandan

experiment

withthe

possi-

bility

ofgningbeyond

thcm.

(Foucault

l984b:

407]

)

Enacting

and

identifying

withTara

through

theritual

practiceprovided

women

with

a

technique

for

modifying

the

self

byattempting

to

adoptqualities

and

subjectivilies

that

theymay

nototherwise

have

adopted.

In

doing

so,

Tara

practice

appeared

toenablethemtotestthe

limitsofwomanhoodthathadbeen

imposed

on

them.

A

particular

way

in

which

Tara

disrupted

thewomen‘s

previous

notions

of

womanhood

was

through

the

incorporation

ofwrathinher

repertoire

of

being.