This lesson introduces the Green Tara and also goes over the microcosmos.

You can start by watching this video related to the Green Tara and performing the mudras with the mantra:

1. What is a mudra?
2. What is a mantra?
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Then proceed to read The Life of Buddha Shakyamuni Ch. 20 (Green Tara)

Mahagovinda Sutta DN 19 is also part of the lesson.

1. The high and secure position of the assembly of gods led by Sakka is ensured by what?
2. What are the eight reasons Sakka praises the Buddha for?

Further Questions and Answers (about Green Tara, the cosmos, and the microcosmos)

Does the mind come from lower states?

1. All minds initially come from above. All jivas come from above. But they can descend into lower realms, and if they have positive samskaras, they can return from the lower realms into the realm of humans. But at the beginning of the kalpa, all beings abide in the radiance of Brahma and abide and have bodies of light.

Why Green Tara?

1. The Buddha's mother left the body soon after he was born — her presence on earth wasn’t lasting, she didn’t have a large amount of material energy. The White Tara, Black Tara, have lasting material roots, they are often deities which are associated with, conversely, longevity. The Green Tara is a deity which appears in the human realm for not long. She appears only as a dew drop. She causes some important phenomena, but as she doesn’t have a large amount of material energy, she quickly leaves the body.

What is the meaning of OM TARE TUTARE TURE SWAHA

1. Tara means saviour. You, Saviour who swiftly.. Ture means swiftly. You swiftly lead to liberation. Saviour who swiftly saves from suffering.
   

What is the meaning of saying each syllable while doing a mudra?

1. When we superimpose the syllable of a mantra with the movement of our fingers, we make the pronunciation of the mantra clearer. So superimposing it with the movement of our fingers improves the quality and clarity of our speech, and as the quality and clarity of our speech improves, the quality and clarity of our thought improves.

Are there different universes with different realms?

1. In every universe (solar system), in the centre of intelligence is the star that is there. For us, it's the sun. More intelligent beings reside on the sun, the higher gods. That temperature, energy does not frighten them, because their bodies are made of light. On other planets there are other intelligent beings, but these beings are bodiless. These beings belong to the realms of asuras or gods.
   ​The sun is like the ushnisha of our universe. The earth is the heart.

The microcosmos is the cosmos that is found inside a person. Intelligence is concentrated in the star, the sun. Our heart reflects this intelligence. This energy of the Ushnisha — our heart takes it and internalizes it. Because intelligence constantly flows towards the centre, towards the star, and matter constantly flows outward, what we get is that in different galaxies, in different universes, beings… beings on earth are drawn to the sun. And in another galaxy they are drawn to their star. Matter creates a barrier between them. Matter is pushed out to the periphery of the universe, and it creates a barrier. So contact between different civilizations on the material plane is practically impossible. Only if two stars come near each other maybe. But stars, also, because of matter, constantly push themselves away from each other. That keeps them from colliding.

Can there be different world structures? Yes, there can be. In the Mandalas that we have learned, in the mandalas of the Pure Lands of the five naginis, we learned about beings which do not fit into the system of the six realms. Beings that can be in different realms according to our diagram. In some other galaxy they can have their own world. In our galaxy, they don’t have a specific world, but in another they have. But I think it's enough to just say that it is possible.

What happens if two stars orbit each other?

Two stars orbiting around each other: less centered. If there are two stars there, there is going to be a very high level of development of beings. There might be exceptions to this rule, but an accumulation of stars also means high density of intelligence. It can be even three, not two. Some star clusters. What we can see with our eye: in the constellation of the hunter, we can see a star cluster — Pleiades. They are generally places, galaxies where there are more developed spiritual beings. Very high realms. But that is their material shell. Nevertheless, it means a lot.

We can look at these places as landmarks of the presence of the Pure Lands in material existence. Higher Pure Lands also have some manifestations in the material existence, and we can say that those are their traces. Their traces in the material world.

I don’t think we can say things in the absolute sense. To say that those are identical phenomena. But there is a correlation.