Tara's Pure Realm: The meaning of the studio name Yulokod
Tara is considered to be the mother of all Buddhas; in other words, the source of wisdom itself (as Prajnaparamita). She is so ancient that there is no date in history where she begins. Tara represents the quintessential essence of Enlightenment in female form. Her earthly abode is considered to be the Potala Palace, the original home of H.H.the Dalai Lama, in Lhasa, Tibet. She is the patron saint of Tibet and is recognized by many names thoughout the world - Kwannon and Kwan Yin, for example. She appears luminescent and green, like an emerald. It seems that it is no coincidence that the Earth herself in Latin is known as "Terra Firma". In her enlightened non-corporeal form she dwells in a pure realm known as "Yulokod". This is as much a state of mind as it is a place.
Below is a description of that place by a Delog. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, gifted female practitioners (Yogini's or Jetsunmas) voluntarily leave the human realm for a few days or a few weeks, under the watchful guidance and protection of a meditation master, and experience the after death state. They then return to share their experience and teach their direct perception. They are then referred to as "Delogs".
Reading the description below, I am sure you will see why I chose Yulokod for the name of my studio. It expresses the beauty that I aspire to bring into the lives of my clients through my glasswork and design. Yulokod Studios is dedicted to inspiring sacred awareness through beauty....
beautiful and vividly clear, a marvelous environment with many
extraordinary features.
Pavilions of five-coloured rainbow light hovered
in the sky.
Many kinds of flowers and lotuses grew everywhere. Here there
was no concept of summer or winter.
The wish granting trees were in full
leaf, and from the words of Buddhadharma in the Sanskrit language, such as
Namo arya tare mam.
Birds that were emanations of the Noble Lady-sparrows,
ducks, peacock, cranes, parrots, grouse, cuckoos, and swans, played
everywhere.
The land was filled with wealth and prosperity gems.
Everywhere were pools of nectar endowed with eight fine qualities and
elegantly appointed bathhouses made of precious jewels.In this realm, there was no concept of birth, aging, illness or death.
All of the inhabitants were born miraculously from the hearts of lotuses.
In no future lifetimes would they hear unpleasant or discordant sound.
Those dwelling there were bodhisattvas who had attained high levels of
realization.
This place surpassed the limits of imagination; its size
could not be measured.
It contained thousands of immeasurable mansions
fashioned of the five precious substances.
I arrived at the gateway of the central palace, a vast celestial mansion
of magical and marvelous appearance, having the power to liberate beings in
four ways.
The very moment I entered it, I awoke from deep sleep of
ordinary rational consciousness and was free of the veils of ignorance.
The
inner vision of my pristine awareness expanded, and I experienced a surge
of love and compassion.
I came to a courtyard in which many thousands of goddesses, dressed in
green, chanted the praises to the twenty-one forms of Tara in the Sanskrit
tongue.
Occasionally they played small finger cymbals, golden hand drums,
and drums made of sandalwood, ebony, serpent's heart wood, and four kinds
of heart wood, as well as cymbals, gongs and flutes.
They frequently
punctuated their chant with music performed on this inconceivable variety
of instruments.
Upon hearing them.
I felt an unimaginable sense of
devotion; I made many offering praises with my mind.I proceed to the immeasurable central palace, the celestial mansion.
I saw that the five layered walls were made of conch shell, gold, coral,
emerald, and sapphire, all with friezes of ruby. The pillars and columns
were made of red pearl, the main roof beams of quartz crystal, and the
rafters were made of gems to illuminate the interior.
Atop a cornice of gold was a pediment of coral, supporting a bluish green vault of
turquoise.
Melodious music from chimes on the roof top resounded, taking
away the suffering of those in the lower realms.
The fragrant scent of
incense of the immeasurable attitudes wafted about.
There were fine
displays of unimaginably lovely offerings.
In the center of the mansion, on a many-coloured lotus with a thousand
petals and a moon disk seat, was the only refuge, the very embodiment of
compassion, the sublime mother of all the victorious ones of the three
times, the sister of the bodhisattvas, she, whom both those in the human
world and those in the heavens worship with the crowns of their heads
touched to the soles of her feet.
The goddess who was born from the tears of the Exalted One, the noble Tara herself.Her body was bluish green, more intensely luminous than a mountain of
turquoise fit by a thousand suns.
Infinite rays of light shone from her form, which was adorned with major and minor marks of perfection.
Her body was that of a youthful maiden sixteen years of age, clad in garments made from the silk of the gods adorned with immeasurably valuable ornaments of precious wish-fulfilling gems.
Her hair was shiny jet black, half of her tresses bound up in a topknot and with ribbons of blue green silk that fluttered in the breeze. With her left hand in the gesture symbolizing the Three Jewels, she held the stem of a blue lotus, the petals of which bloomed next to her ear.
With her right hand she held the gesture of granting refuge.
She, Tara, Mother of all Buddha's sheltered all beings from the limitless fears of this confused world of cyclic existence.
She held her two legs half-crossed in the posture of a feminine bodhisattva.Many noble feminine bodhisattvas were circumambulating her and there were also many varied manifestations of Tara herself.
All were distinctly visible but without the aggregates of flesh and blood.
They appeared as illusory forms of pristine awareness, a magical display manifesting in myriad of ways.
I saw them in all their scintillating brilliance, like
stars and planets reflected in the vast ocean.
At this point, my grasping at ordinary reality spontaneously ceased & I experienced for a time an unimaginable sense of cosmic order.
From Tibet
"Those sentient beings who actually wish to see the pure realm of Tara intheir minds will rejoice in the cooling rays of pure vision in the soothing
shelter of the blooming lotus of faith."
A quotation from the written works of Delog Dawa Drolma A revered Lama, Dakini, & Delog From Tibet circa 1925