Manchester Buddhist Centre

A Buddhist ritual devoted to White Tara, who sym­bol­ises wis­dom and compassion

In gath­er­ing together on the full moon each month, we are join­ing Buddhists across the world in a tra­di­tion that goes back to the time of the his­tor­ical Buddha

The ritual will be led in call and response with chant­ing and verses, prac­tised to develop our spir­itual emo­tions to match our spir­itual understanding.

If you have atten­ded an intro­duct­ory Buddhism course but are new to puja, you will be made very wel­come. There is no pres­sure to join in — it is fine just to watch.

This full moon puja takes place on a Sunday, when the Centre would not usu­ally be open, but we will be there to open the door from 5.30 pm. Please be sure to arrive a few minutes before the puja starts as there will be no-one down­stairs to let you in after 5.45 pm

More about White Tara

The god­dess of uni­ver­sal com­pas­sion, Tara rep­res­ents vir­tu­ous and enlightened action. It is said that her com­pas­sion for liv­ing beings is stronger than a mother’s love for her children.

She also brings about longev­ity, pro­tects earthly travel, and guards her fol­low­ers on their spir­itual jour­ney to enlight­en­ment. White Tara (Sanskrit: Sitatara) is some­times called the Mother of all Buddhas and she rep­res­ents the moth­erly aspect of com­pas­sion. Her white col­our sig­ni­fies pur­ity, wis­dom and truth.

In icon­o­graphy, White Tara often has seven eyes – in addi­tion to the usual two, she has a third eye on her fore­head and one on each of her hands and feet. This sym­bol­izes her vigil­ance and abil­ity to see all the suf­fer­ing in the world.