Ekajati

ral chig ma - One Braid Mother - The Single-Plait Mother

Ekajati is one of the 21 Taras. She is one of the fierce and powerful goddess of Tinetan mythology. She is the accultration of the Bon Goddess of Heaven whose right eye was pierced by Padmasambhava.

She is also known as 'Blue Tara'. Ekajati often appears as liberator in Green Tara mandala. She liberates one from fear of enemies, spreads joy and removes personal hinderances to path of enlightenment. She is the protectress of of Secret Mantras. Ekajati, "As the mother of the mother of all Buddhas" represents ultimate unity. Her mantra is also secret. She is the primary protectress of Nyingma tradition. Ekajati is the non-dual queen - the most important of the Ma Za Dor Sum. She is the supreme protectress of the Dzogchen Atiyoga teachings and guardian of tantric path, protecting it from unworthy.

She is wrathful and can assume different forms and colors. She has blue skin tone, with high red shignon. She is depicted with single tuft of hair, only a third eye of wisdom open while her two eyes are sunken and dried, a tooth, and a breast symbolizing her non-duality. She is sometimes depicted with more body parts, sometimes upto 12 heads and 24 arms, with different tantric attributes. He most common form holds and axe, drigug(cleaver) or khatvanga(tantric staff) and a skull cup in her hands. She is nearly naked and wears a cloud as her garment or a tiger skin and human skin. Also she is shown with a human corpse as a symbol that destroys itself of itself and with itself. In her left hand she holds a riped out human heart the uncompassionately murdered heart of aggressive self-justification. She tramples over a corpse of ego or duality. She wears wreath of severed heads and stands amid a mass fire of wisdom.