The Buddhist deity White Tara

According to the First Dalai Lama, White Tara is “the wisdom, compassion, and enlightened activity of all buddhas arising in the form of a beautiful goddess.” She is an important goddess in Nepal and Tibet, and worship of her dates from the 600s, when the two queens of the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (reigned approx. 627–649) were deified and worshiped as the two forms of Tara.

White Tara’s right hand, posed in the gesture of gift-granting, indicates her gifts of spiritual attainments and buddhahood to disciples. Her left hand, posed in the gesture of dispelling fear, shows that she protects disciples from all danger and disaster. The eyes on her palms and the soles of her feet show her mastery of the four doors of liberation through which she frees all beings from misery.