Melissa Arnot Reid

“Of course!” he replied. “Green Tara! She is exceptional and different from all the other Buddhas. She is actually considered the mother of them all. She is the reincarnate of a princess in Nepal, so it’s surprising you haven’t seen her before.” He paused and pushed his glasses up his nose. “She is mature and gentle and available to help you develop your inner qualities and understand your outer ones, like a mother. Very loving.” Like nearly all the symbols in Buddhism, he explained, she was there to free you from suffering. She was not just a mother but the mother of liberation. The Tibetan sun shone hot overhead as we spoke. I watched Gary’s glasses sliding farther down his nose, thinking that I hadn’t known a mother to be loving. What I did know was that the Green Tara had reached out directly to me. I wanted to tell Gary all about it, but I wasn’t sure how he would respond, so I kept it to myself. Instead, over the next few days, I read all I could find about her. For the rest of the trip, each time I stumbled onto an incarnation of her, I stood near it feeling that same drenching warmth of acceptance. She could see me, all the way into my broken heart, and she doused me with the warm light of love anyway. I wondered if she was doing this for everyone, or if she was committed to setting me free.”
― Melissa Arnot Reid, Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest