Tara is called the "Savioress" because she is known for saving beings from the ocean of samsara (suffering). Her name also means "star," as she is as infinite as the stars in the sky. Ultimately, she represents the essential nature of your own mind, your buddha nature, and in this way, she can manifest in each of us in a myriad of different ways. The twenty-one aspects of Tara appear in the 11th-century tantric text called the Twenty-One Praises to Tara, a devotional hymn popular in Tibetan Buddhism, from which Lopön Chandra Easton's book, Embodying Tara, draws its teachings and practices. The Nyingma TwentyOne Tara tradition is found within the terma (treasure) cycle of Jigme Lingpa, "The Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse” (Longchen Nyingtig), one of the most important of the Great Perfection, Dzogchen, traditions in the Nyingma (“Elders”) school of Tibetan Buddhism. Lopön Chandra will share teachings and stories from this rich lineage as a way to set the context for a guided practice and mantra recitation to one of the Taras, Tara Vajra Saraswati.

Chandra Easton is a Dharma teacher, author, and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts. She has taught Buddhism and Hatha Yoga since 2001. She studied Buddhism and Tibetan language in Dharamsala, India, and at UCSB’s religious studies department. During her studies, she cotranslated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection (Vimala Publishing, 2012) with B. Alan Wallace. Seeking to bring forth the voice of the empowered feminine in Buddhism, Chandra regularly leads retreats and classes for various organizations, develops programs and curricula for Tara Mandala Retreat Center, founded by Lama Tsultrim Allione, and teaches Dharma nationally and internationally. She co-founded the 21 Taras Collective with Nina Rao and Genevieve Walker, to record music for the twenty-one Taras mantras found in her new book, Embodying Tara: Twenty-One Manifestations to Awaken Your Innate Wisdom (Shambhala Publishing, 2023).