Green Tara: The Emerald Radiance of Compassion
The two common Green Tara practices are the 'Six-Armed Green Tara' by Nairatmya (གཉལ་ལོ་) and the 'Kashmiri Scholar Tara' by Kashmiri scholars. In South Asian literature, light green is the color of sixteen-year-old girls; they often gather and dance under tree shade, and sunlight shining on their beautiful bodies turns them green. Green Tara, the goddess dwelling in the sandalwood forest, is the combined form of all the Taras (goddesses). Partial: Green Tara's Countenance (Newar Style). To view the image, click on the link 'green tara' for Green Tara, early 13th century, at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Local: According to some early texts, within the sandalwood forest of the Purple Sandalwood Grove, as in other Buddhist gardens, the four seasons can be seen changing over the course of a single day. Consequently, artistic creations give each season a slightly different shade of green: spring’s is lake green, summer’s is emerald green, autumn’s is embroidered green (moss green), and winter’s is yellow green.
In the 14th-century work "Unfulfilled Achievements at the Altar of the Buddha City," from a private collection, the Northern main Buddha Vairochana attains his Buddha body in a green hue. South Asian classics term this shade "peacock green," while Tibetan classics identify it specifically as "turquoise green" (སྤང་ཀྱུ་མ་). All accomplishments arise from surmounting poison obstacles, ultimately forming a green wisdom vessel, or accomplished body. As such, green also serves as a symbol of toxicity, both internal and external. Partially, the Buddha's body color does not signify empty achievements. In the 15th-century "The Heavenly King Vaishravana with a Club Statue," also from a private collection, the Dharma Protector Dhritarashtra, as the Northern Buddha King, is typically rendered in green and is called the "Mountain-colored Protector" (རྣམ་སྲས་རི་བོའི་ཚོན་). He adorns himself with the skin of the dragon race, which is why this deep green carries the name "Serpentine Green" (ལྗང་སྦྲུལ་). Green results from blending the four activities.
In the art world, the toxic patches found on their bodies are referred to as "Green Residue" (ལྗང་སེགས་), while the poisonous nature of the dragon species—mainly venomous—is termed "Green Body" (ལྗང་གཟུགས་). This applies to the Localized: Celestial King's Countenance Local: Dragonkin Attendant dragon species. Green and blue, two beautiful colors, If painting a happy land, use green and blue. (སྔོ་ལྗང་གཉིས་པོ་ཚོན་གྱི་ཡུལ་ལྗོངས་ཡིན། སྐྱིད་ཉམས་འདོད་ན་དེ་ཡི་ནང་ལ་ཡོད།)
According to a saying in the Tibetan art world, green serves as the witness of art history within Tibet's artistic tradition. The Karma Kagyu painting school divides green landscapes into "Indian green landscapes" and "Chinese green landscapes.
The color of uncle is green; whoever meets it benefits. (…) Deep jade and varied greens claim the ground as their domain. Light green, blue-green, and yellow-green belong to the sunlit slopes; pine green, emerald green, and similar tones rule the shaded mountains. Emerald green, grass green, and blue-green occupy the shared boundaries of day and shade, where mountain and plain meet or rivers edge the land, leaving patches of earth bare of grass. There, lake green and tea green hold sway. - Dima Geshe Dainzeng Pengcuo དེའུ་དམར་དགེ་བཤེས་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ (1672-?) * "Deep jade" means peacock green, while "pine green" refers to leaf green; in Tibetan color theory, "tea green" generally denotes olive green. "Thirteenth Gyalwang Karmapa", 19th century, Rubin Museum The Thirteenth Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso (1733-1797) was a gifted painter and researcher of art whose investigations into color theory held great importance for the Tibetan region.
The Karmapa in creation: the color of mountain sunshine, the color of mountain shade. If red is the hue of rebirth and convenience, then green is the hue of life, wisdom, and the wind. In native culture, the 'Lu Shen' (the dragon clan in a Buddhist context) are associated with green; 'green people, green horses' is the core phrase that ancient memories use for these aquatic beings.
In Tibetan color theory, green is usually denoted by the Tibetan numeral "4" (༤), or alternatively by the Tibetan words "lja" (ལྗ་) and "jng" (ཇང་). Green also serves as a hue that readily absorbs essence and acts as a container in which various spiritual entities can coexist in the universe, akin to the soul stone in Tibetan culture. Additionally, beyond green itself, there are two other shades: grass green (སྤང་, abbreviated as སྤ་) and jade green (གཡུ་, abbreviated as ཡུ་).
Between heaven and earth, green occupies the spaces, coloring the mountains, waters, stones, and grass.
The significance of green in Tibetan art is perfectly highlighted in 'Lucky Heavenly Mother Offering Image' (18th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art), a painting of the auspicious Tibetan mother goddess in which every detail, from background structure to element presentation, reflects this importance. The 19th-century painter Lumbeng Kheshe of Dzogchen Monastery once advised caution with green, stating that 'the green seen by the human eye is already extraordinary, and if the artist lacks enthusiasm, the painting will be as poor as copying nature.' Also referenced is the 17th-century work 'Symptoms of Illness: Dragon Species' at the Rubin Museum.
Local: On both sides, the two dragons govern clouds of distinct hues. The flesh-colored dragon to the left manages misty clouds, whereas the emerald green dragon to the right manages rain clouds. The "Six Green Dragons," described in Tibetan as ལྗང་འབྲུག་དྲུག་, appear in some rituals associated with Guanyin. Local: With this, the presentation of the "Five Primary Colors" within Tibetan color theory concludes.
This article is a translation from Sorang Wangqing's blog. In the next two pieces on color theory, I will concentrate on pigments, color combinations, and coloring techniques as part of Tibetan color theory. Specific artworks will be used to demonstrate both the regional distinctions (synchronic characteristics) and the temporal developments in Tibetan color theory.