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closeAn ancient story of a green-skinned woman inspired Raleigh-based Jungian analyst Rachael Wooten more than 20 years ago.
Known in Tibetan Buddhist circles as the Green Tara, the woman brought gentle defiance against the religious establishment of her time that said she had to be a man to reach enlightenment.
Now, Wooten shares that story with others at lectures around the city in hopes of spreading the inspiration. She spoke on the topic at the Jung Society of the Triangle last week, plus she’s working on a book about the Green Tara and teaches ongoing classes in Raleigh.
Staff writer Chelsea Kellner spoke to Wooten last week about the importance of interconnection and the idea that God could be female.
Responses have been edited for length.
Q: What’s the full story of Tara?
A: Tara is an amazing example of courage represented in the form of the divine feminine. It’s also a very human story that transcends all religions. The story comes from between 600 and 800 A.D., at a time when, in the Buddhist canon, you could only be enlightened if you were a man.
Tara’s story arises from that. She was such a brilliant, accomplished Buddhist practitioner that these monks came to her and said, all you need to do is either magically transform yourself into a man or pray to be reborn as a man. She says, you know, actually in teachings it says that enlightened consciousness is neither male nor female, so I can’t see how what you’re telling me is consistent with the teachings. Then she makes this very famous vow that she will never become enlightened unless it’s in a woman’s body.
Ultimately, she achieves enlightenment and becomes a Buddha – a completely and fully enlightened being.
Q: What is the benefit of learning and connecting with that story?
A: This young woman came to her own authority against the prevailing culture and said no. I think that’s what the story has to offer no matter what faith you are – commitment to your own faith and your own authority.
What Tara represents is the idea that everything is intricately connected to everything else. That wisdom can lead to unlimited compassion. I could be a raving Democrat, but if I get that I’m that connected to Newt Gingrich, I can sit down and take a deep breath before my next rant. Or if you realize you’re connected to the environment, you won’t dump toxic waste in the river.
Q: What do you mean by the term “the divine feminine”?
A: In our culture, the divine has only been referred to as male except for in really unusual circumstances. Until recently, women couldn’t go to divinity school, much less get ordained, much less have their own church. God is a guy, Jesus is a guy – they’re all boys, right. The idea is that the infinite, the thing that’s really beyond description, is either feminine or has a feminine aspect as well as a masculine. And then what it does in your own soul, your heart, when you think of the eternal as having feminine qualities.
