This new article is about my brief pilgrimage visit to the ‘Green Ṭārā’ Drugpa Kagyu monastery, in Bodh Gaya, India. I have been to Bodh Gaya several times now in this lifetime, and visited the main pilgrimage sites there to Bodhi Temple, Vulture’s Peak, Rajgir and Mahakala Cave, the tree where Buddha was given yoghurt by Sujata, a young woman (click on the links for photos and details)
However, I had not visited the Green Ṭārā temple before, so decided to go before the pre-Kagyu Monlam teachings byt HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche on the Three Kāyas. I also visited the Drugpa Kagyu Ngawang Thubten Choling Zhabdrung Bhutanese monastery near there, where a Cham dance was taking place.
Currently, the Drugpa Kagyu Monlam Chenmo is also taking place next to the Bodhi Tree at the Bodhi Temple too, finishing on the 19th February. Low-key and hardly advertised, it is nonetheless an important lineage and aspect of Tibetan Buddhist history and practice, and was less ‘flashy’ and more authentic in a way because of the lack of mass PR and social media posts about it. The Green Tārā statue and Chakrasamvara and Shitro (Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful deities) mandala was one of the most stunning I have seen,
Before sharing my experience and photos of the Tara temple, I give a brief history of the Drugpa Kagyu and their importance as a Kagyu lineage in Tibet and Ladakh, and later, after the Mongolian-Gelug onslaught and suppression of their lineage, in the founding and administration of the country, Bhutan.
For original research and translations on Green Tārā, White Tārā and the 21 Tārās, see here.
Music? Green Tara mantra of course, and Green Eyes by Coldplay!
Drugpa Kagyu, the Mongolian-Gelug onslaught, and founding of Bhutan
The Drukpa lineage was founded in the Tsang region of Tibet by Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211), a student of Ling Repa, whose guru was, Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo, who was in turn a principal disciple of Dagpo Gampopa. Tsangpa Gyare mastered the Vajrayana practices of the mahamudra and Six Yogas of Naropa at an early age. As a tertön or “treasure-revealer”, he discovered the text of the Six Equal Tastes, previously hidden by Rechung Dorje Drakpa, the student of Milarepa. While on a pilgrimage, Tsangpa Gyare and his disciples witnessed a set of nine dragons (Tibetan: druk) roaring out of the earth and into the skies, as flowers rained down everywhere. From this incident they named their sect Drukpa.
As many of you will know who read my writing and website, Drugpa Kagyu were one of the worst hit lineages in Tibet (along with Karma Kagyu, Jonang and Nyingma) by the Mongolian invasion of Tibet, and their imposing of a political tulku, the 5th Dalai Lama to act as both political and spiritual leader of Tibet (the first time that had happened in Tibetan history).
As I wrote about in The Dalai Lamas and Ladakh (2022), and A PALACE FIT FOR KINGS AND ARMIES: The “shady” and murderous political foundations and Ladakhi-style aspirations of the Potala Palace(s) in Tibet under Mongolian-Gelug military rule (2024), the Drugpa Kagyu had been very powerful and revered in Tibet and Ladakh, however, due to the Gelug-Mongolian push for power with force there too, the Drugpa Kagyu had to flee their Gelugpa persecutors to a newly founded country, Bhutan under the leadership of Drugpa Kagyu guru, Zhabdrung Rinpoche, Ngawang Namgyel (1594–1651).
Since that time, there has been no Gelugpa presence, or Dalai Lama visit in Bhutan. I was told by Bhutanese people there is an unwritten rule that they are banned due to their violent and suppressive political activities against Drugpa Kagyu and other lineages.
After the massive suppression of Drugpa Kagyu by the Gelugpa sectarians, both pre and post-1959, it was great to see the Drugpa Kagyu still trying to thrive and survive under the Bodhi tree, and with the stunning Tārā temple.
The Green Tārā temple, Bodh Gaya
The temple is about a ten minute rickshaw drive from the main Bodhi temple. There is a small sign saying Tara devi temple, and as one walks in, one immediately sees the magnificient green Tara at the top of the temple building. As one walks towards the ground floor shrine room, it is surrounded by Tārā statues made of white marble. There are twenty-one in total, on the ground and first and second floors.
Chakrasamvara Mandala
On the ground floor of the temple is a lovely Buddha statue.
As one goes up to the first and second floors by stairs, there is a Chakrasamvara Mandala and a One Hundred Wrathful and Peaceful Deities Mandala:
Mandala of Wrathful and Peaceful Deities (Shitro)
The Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities ( ཞི་ཁྲོ་རིགས་བརྒྱ་, shitro rik gya) include the forty-two peaceful deities and fifty-eight wrathful deities. They feature in several practices and cycles of teachings, most notably the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Guhyagarbha Tantra, which is said to be the primary source describing this mandala.
Shitro is said to be a special practice for all present and future bardos. In the bardo after death, when the body and mind separate, you will see the mandala of [100 Peaceful and Wrathful] deities in front of you. If you recognize them as your own wisdom phenomena you will wake up in the Pure Land.
The Green Tārā statue
The sun was setting and even though the air/atmosphere was polluted/foggy generally, the warm golden orb could still be seen over the Tārā emerald green rice fields nearby.
Drug Ngawang Thubten Choling Zhabdrung Monastery, Bodh Gaya
I also caught some cham dancing at the Zhabdrung Monastery, Bodh Gaya, which had a beautiful Zhabdrung and Guru Rinpoche statue inside. The monastery also recently completed a 21 Tara annual puja they do at the Bodhi tree temple every year.
