My interest in painting Green Tara is given a boost in the following article:
From the article:
I mentioned before that I consider thangka painting to be the activity of a Bodhisattva . Whilst I can’t say that I have made much progress as a Bodhisattva, I do feel immensely attracted to developing that heart and mind along with trying to emulate the activities of those great Beings. Lord Maitreya defines bodhicitta as ‘The desire to become enlightened for the benefit of others.’ To offer the mechanism to reach enlightenment to another person is the greatest gift one could ever give. We can’t give someone enlightenment because we can’t give our realisations to another; even Lord Buddha was unable to do this. We can , however, take a single individual — and with deep insight into their personality — provide for them all the conditions necessary for their own journey to enlightenment. I personally have no particular insight into what another person needs spiritually. There have, however, been beings in the past who have possessed this insight; and they have identified consistent and fundamental flaws in our heart and mind which create our own version of samsara .
Each sentient being within samsara remains locked in this prison due to their fundamental ignorance of the ultimate nature of reality and from that ignorance spring the two “henchmen” of attachment and aversion.