Sitatapatra

Sitatapatra
Statue of 1000 arm Sitātapatrā in Leh, Ladakh, India
Chinese name
Chinese	白傘蓋佛頂
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bái Sǎngài Fúdǐng Wade–Giles Pai^2 San^3-kai^4 Fu^2-ting^3
Tibetan name
Tibetan	གདུགས་དཀར་མོ།
Transcriptions Wylie gdugs dkar mo
Korean name
Hangul	시타타파트라
Transcriptions Revised Romanization sitatapateula
Mongolian name
Mongolian Cyrillic	Цагаан шүхэрт Tsagaan shühert
Japanese name
Kanji	白傘蓋仏頂
Kana	びゃくさんがいぶっちょう シタータパトラー
Transcriptions Romanization Byaku Sangai Butchō Shitātapatorā
Filipino name
Tagalog	Sitatapatla
Tamil name
Tamil	சீதாதபத்திரை
Sanskrit name
Sanskrit	सितातपत्रा (Sitātapatrā)
Pali name
Pali	Sitātapattā

Sitātapatrā (Sanskrit: "White Parasol"^[1]) is a bodhisattva and protector against supernatural danger in Buddhism. She is venerated in both the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions. She is also known as Usnisasitatapatra or Uṣṇīṣa Sitātapatrā. It is believed that Sitātapatrā is a powerful independent deity emanated by Gautama Buddha from his Uṣṇīṣa. Whoever practices her mantra will be reborn in Amitābha's pure land of Sukhāvatī as well as gaining protection against supernatural danger and witchcraft.^{[citation needed]}

Name

Her name is composed of sita ("white") and ātapatrā ("parasol" or "umbrella").^[2]

Forms

There are several different forms of Sitatapatra including: with one face and two arms; with three faces and six arms; with three faces and eight arms; with three faces and ten arms; with five faces and ten arms; and, with 1000 faces, 1000 arms and 1000 legs.^[3]

Mantras

ཧཱུཾ་མ་མ་ཧཱུཾ་ནི་སྭཱཧཱ། Hum ma ma hum ni svaha

The Śūraṅgama Mantra of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is the most commonly practiced mantra invoking her.^{[citation needed]} According to Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, the "Great White Umbrella" is a sādhanā for healing illness, dispelling interferences and spirit possession, quelling disasters, and bringing auspiciousness. To do practice in full requires a kriyātantra abhiṣeka of Sitātapatrā for the Vajrayana practitioners. The dhāraṇī "ārya-tathāgatoṣṇīṣa-sitātapatrāparājita-mahāpratyaṅgirāparama-siddhā-nāma-dhāraṇī" (English: "The Noble Dhāraṇī of Sitātapatrā Born from the Tathāgata’s Uṣṇīṣa, Great Dispeller of Invincible Might and Supreme Accomplishment") is a common action tantra practice of Sitātapatrā.

Symbolism

Sitatapatra

Sitātapatrā is one of the most complex Vajrayana goddesses.^[4] According to Miranda Shaw in the Buddhist Goddesses of India, Sitātapatrā emerged from Buddha's uṣṇīṣa when he was in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven.^{[citation needed]} The Buddha announced her role to "cut asunder completely all malignant demons, to cut asunder all the spells of others...to turn aside all enemies and dangers and hatred." Sitātapatrā's benign and beautiful form belies her ferocity as she is a "fierce, terrifying goddess, garlanded by flames, a pulverizer of enemies and demons."^[5]

In the Mahayana Sitatapatra Sutra, she is called Aparājita "Undefeatable, Unconquerable" and is also identified as a form of goddess Tārā.^{[citation needed]}

In other sutras, she is regarded as a female counterpart to Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Like him, Sitātapatrā manifests in many elaborate forms: having a thousand faces, arms and legs, or simply as a feminine deity of great beauty. Known foremost for her "white parasol" she is most frequently attributed with the "golden wheel". The auspiciousness of the turning of the dharma wheel is symbolic of Buddhism, both in its teachings and realizations.^{[citation needed]}

Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhist often recite her a Sino rendering of her Sanskrit title (Maha, meaning "great") Sitātapatrā (Ma Ha Tất Đát Đa Bát Đát Ra 摩訶悉怛多缽怛囉) as a protection mantra, often alongside a starting Om and then svaha but sometimes just the name by itself.

See also

• List of bodhisattvas

References

1. The Cult of Tara: Magic and Ritual in Tibet (Hermeneutics: Studies in the History of Religions) by Stephan Beyer (1978) p.154
2. The Wheel of Great Compassion by Lorne Ladner and Lama Zopa Rinpoche (Wisdom Publications, 2001) p. 28
3. Jeff Watt (February 2003). "Buddhist Deity: Sitatapatra Main Page". Himalayan Art Resources. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
4. The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs by Robert Beer (1999) p.23
5. Shaw, Miranda (2006). Buddhist goddesses of India. Princeton [u.a.]: Princeton Univ. Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0691127583.

External links

• Buddhist Deity: Sitatapatra - at Himalayan Art Resources