This sculpture is located at the Norton Simon Museum. The Museum's website (
visit link) informs us:
"Tara, late 9th century
India: Bihar, 801-900
Schist
37 x 18-3/4 x 8-1/2 in. (94 x 47.6 x 21.6 cm)
Norton Simon Art Foundation
M.1974.06.S
© 2012 Norton Simon Art Foundation
On view
The Buddhist deity Tara is the goddess of compassion, who aids devotees in overcoming personal difficulties. The inscription inside her halo is the Buddhist creed, which reads "[Buddha] has revealed the cause of those phenomena which spring from a cause and also [the means of] their cessation. So says the Great Monk.'"
Wikipedia (
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"Tara ... also known as Jetsun Dolma ... in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. In Japan she is known as Tara Bosatsu,... and little-known as Duoluó Púsa...in Chinese Buddhism.
Tara is a tantric meditation deity whose practice is used by practitioners of the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism to develop certain inner qualities and understand outer, inner and secret teachings about compassion and emptiness. Tara is actually the generic name for a set of Buddhas or bodhisattvas of similar aspect. These may more properly be understood as different aspects of the same quality, as bodhisattvas are often considered metaphoric for Buddhist virtues.
The most widely known forms of Tara are:
Green Tara, known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
White Tara, also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
Red Tara, of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things
Black Tara, associated with power
Yellow Tara, associated with wealth and prosperity
Blue Tara, associated with transmutation of anger
Cittamani Tara, a form of Tara widely practiced at the level of Highest Yoga Tantra in the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, portrayed as green and often conflated with Green Tara
Khadiravani Tara (Tara of the acacia forest), who appeared to Nagarjuna in the Khadiravani forest of South India and who is sometimes referred to as the "22nd Tara"
There is also recognition in some schools of Buddhism of twenty-one Taras. A practice text entitled In Praise of the 21 Taras, is recited during the morning in all four sects of Tibetan Buddhism.'"
As for the asteroid, Wikipedia (
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"5863 Tara (1983 RB) is an Amor asteroid discovered on September 7, 1983 by C. S. Shoemaker at Palomar.
Discovered by C. S. Shoemaker
Discovery site Palomar
Discovery date September 7, 1983
Designations
MPC designation 5863
Alternative names 1983 RB
Orbital characteristics
Epoch May 14, 2008
Ap 3.348374819312093
Peri 1.094021599512091
Eccentricity .5074633164765348
Orbital period 1209.147824762051
Mean anomaly 181.1194586742844
Inclination 19.46979841304705
Longitude of ascending node 169.0423106057686
Argument of peri 115.3763528026272
Physical characteristics
Absolute magnitude (H) 15.5"