Sitatapatra or Dukkar — the ultimate protective Bodhisattva Goddess, form of Mother Tara — 1000 arms or 2 arms, she is “Aparajita” the Undefeatable One

Don’t let the serene look of peaceful, two armed white Sitatapatra confuse you; Sitatapatra is the ultimate protective form of Mother Tara. She can be as simple as a beautiful white goddess bearing a protective parasol umbrella, or as ferocious as a towering deity with 1,000 heads, 1,000 arms, 1,000 legs and 1,000,000 eyes! Regardless of her emanation — 2 arms or 1000 — she always holds her vast protective Parasol, a symbol of impenetrable protection — and a Dharma Wheel in her right hand, to show us that the eightfold path of the Buddha is all the protection anyone would need.

The Two armed form may seem serene, but she’s a ferocious protector (image from the great artisans at Terma Tree>>)

She is a Mahayana Bodhisattva from Sutra, as well as a Vajrayana deity, and is the ultimate protection against any form of danger, obstruction and especially any super normal or supernatural threats.

Whether she is visualized in her form with 1000 arms and heads, or 2 arms, she is “Aparajita” which means “undefeatable one”. In Tibetan she is called Dugkar or Dukkar.

As a sutra practice — spoken by the Buddha — this powerful protective mantra and practice is suitable for everyone, and is very popular in many traditions of Mahayana Buddhism.

Her Name and Benefits

Her name is Sita, Sanskrit meaning “white” and ātapatrā, or “parasol” (umbrella if you prefer.) Her name literally means White Parasol Bodhisattva (or White Umbrella Deity) — representing her iconic appearance as a protective Bodhisattva.

According to the root Sutra, her practice, and especially her mantra, will protect us from all harm, including supernatural threats, and ensures we will be born in Sukhavati (Dewachen), Amitabha’s Pureland in the West. For this reason her practice is considered a complete practice, due especially to her emphasis on Samadhi (or meditation) as well as the Eightfold Path.

Her Sutra practice is also for “healing illness, dispelling interferences and spirit possession, quelling disasters, and bringing auspiciousness.” according to the late great teacher Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.

Her benefits are summarized in a praise from a Sitatapatra Sadhana (meditative text), which translates in English, more or less, to:

I salute you, exalted one!
Only mother of all Buddhas, past, present, and future,
Your glory pervades the three worlds.
Homage to you, savioress from the evil influence of demons
and planets,
From untimely death and evil dreams,
From the dangers of poison, arms, fire, and water.
The mandala of your being is exceedingly vast.
You have a thousand heads full of innumerable mindstates,
A thousand hands holding flaming attributes.
Queen of all the mandalas of the three worlds . ..
Ever-present in the work of taming evil ones,
I salute you, goddess of magical spells, turning demons into dust!

Root Sutras and Jatakas

In the root Sutra, the vastly profound Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Sitatapatra originates as an emanation from Shakyamuni Buddha’s divine Ushnisha protuberance — born from the profound samadhi of the Buddha himself.

The other root Sutra of Sitatapatra is ārya-tathāgatoṣṇīṣa-sitātapatrāparājita-mahāpratyaṅgirāparama-siddhā-nāma-dhāraṇī — in English, more or less: “The Noble Dhāraṇī of Sitātapatrā Born from the Tathāgata’s Uṣṇīṣa, Great Dispeller of Invincible Might and Supreme Accomplishment.” (No empowerment is required to read this text or to chant this mantra, although transmission from a teacher is always beneficial.)

The symbolism of her origin story is that even the Noble Eightfold Path and the Dharma are of limited value unless it is combined with Samadhi — or meditative absorption. This is why she manifests from Buddha’s head.

In addition to various Sutras, Sitatapatra appears in some of Buddha’s previous life tales, known as Jatakas: The Mahaunmagga Jataka, or the life of Shakyamuni as Prince Mahosadha; and the Mugapakkha Jataka.

Aspects of Mother Tara

The same Sutra, the vast Śūraṅgama Sūtra, elaborates on the deep teachings of Buddha Nature or tathāgatagarbha. Because of this same Buddha Nature, Sitatapatra is also considered an aspect of Mother Tara, the Mother of All the Buddhas — and likewise, Maya, the “physical” mother of the Buddha is considered an aspect of Tara.

Her Mantras

Her mantra is especially powerful. Sutra mantras require no empowerments, since the empowerment comes directly from Shakyamuni Buddha to us — from the Ushnisha of his Sacred head, into our hearts.

Her simplest mantra, according to the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is simply:

In Sanskrit, transliterated English:

Hum ma ma hum ni svaha

In Devangari:

हूँ मा मा हूँ स्वाहा

In Tibetan:

ཧཱུཾ་མ་མ་ཧཱུཾ་ནི་སྭཱཧཱ།

In Tibetan, transliterated English:

Hung Ma Ma Hung Ni Soha

The medium length shorter mantra is:

OM SARVA TATHAGATA USHNISHA SITATAPATRA HUM PHAT HUM MAMA HUM NI SVAHA

Longer Mantras

TADYATHA OM ANALE ANALE
KHASAME KHASAME BHAIRE BHAIRE
SAUME SAUME SARVA BUDDHA
ADHISHTHANA ADHISHTHITE SVAHA

OM SARVA TATHAGATA USHNISHA
SITATA – PATRE HUM PEH
HUM MAMA HUM NI SVAHA

Near Essence Mantras

The Heart Mantra

Prayers and Practices

This dedication prayer is from one of the sadhana dedications:

The Supreme Crown of all Tathagatas,
Manifest on the clouds in the heavens.
The powerful and liberated White Parasols,
I prostrate to every one of them;
May my practice of the White Parasol,
speedily accumulate the invincible Dharma Light,
Shielding all beings and subjugating all maras;
Together, may we all soar to the Buddha-Lands!

Another summary praise, in another Vajrayana Sadhana translates as:

I salute you, exalted one!
Only mother of all Buddhas, past, present, and future,
Your glory pervades the three worlds.
Homage to you, savioress from the evil influence of demons
and planets,
From untimely death and evil dreams,
From the dangers of poison, arms, fire, and water.
The mandala of your being is exceedingly vast.
You have a thousand heads full of innumerable mindstates,
A thousand hands holding flaming attributes.
Queen of all the mandalas of the three worlds . ..
Ever-present in the work of taming evil ones,
I salute you, goddess of magical spells, turning demons into dust!

Her appearance

Her most common appearance is also her most complex one — in the sense that her 1000-armed form is the most popular meditational visualized form. She also has 1000 eyes in her hands, and 1000 faces with three eyes each — 200 faces in each of the five activity colors white for pacifying, red for power, green for compassionate activities, blue for wrathful activities, yellow auspiciousness and good fortune. Less common — albeit easier to visualize — is her two-armed form holding only the Parasol and Wheel of Dharma — usually (but not always depicted with eyes in her hands and feet and the center of her forehead — revealing her as none other than an aspect of White Tara with seven eyes.)

From the Sadhana (translated to English by FPMT) the “more common” form is visualized as all-encompassing — with faces of each of the activity colors: auspicious yellow, magnetizing red, activating green, wrathful blue, and pacifying white, and hands in every mudra, looking in every direction with a million eyes:

“…Venerable Lady Sitatapatra, with vajra ushnisha, the great reverter of all evils, with thousands of manifested heads and arms, and hundreds of opened eyes, adorned with indomitable blazing marks and signs, having great and vast vajra power ruling over the mandalas of the three worlds, with white body and 200 main faces, white in colour, with elegant and brave expressions.

The 200 faces to the right – yellow in colour, have fearful and laugh- ing expressions. The 200 faces in the back – red in colour, have ex- pressions of reproach and fury. The 200 faces to the left – green in colour, have compassionate and peaceful expressions, and the 200 faces on top – blue in color, have expressions of wonder and wrath. Each face has three eyes and each head is adorned with blazing, wrathful vajras. On top of each head are the seven relics, the ten tathagatas. Thus, She is crowned with seven million perfect Enlightenment Beings.

The first right and left hands are in the gesture of giving protection, holding a wheel and holding the handle of the white umbrella along which is an arrow at the chest. The remaining 99 arms to the right and left hold a wheel in the right and an arrow in the left. The next hundred arms to the right hold vajras, the next hundred hold jewels, the next hundred hold lotuses, and the last hundred hold vishvavajras.

Of the rest of the 400 arms to the left the first hundred hold bows, the next hundred hold swords, the next hundred hold lassos and the last hundred hold hooks. She is adorned with a variety of jeweled ornaments with beautiful silken garments for the upper and lower parts of the body.

The right 500 legs are stretched out, trampling on all dangers such as punishment by kings. The left 500 legs on the left are bent, de- stroying all evils such as those beings who rob the bodily radiance of living beings. On all parts of the body are hundreds of thousands of eyes which look sideways or are opened widely, flashing like light- ning, or glaring wrathfully.

Endowed with the nine postures of dance, from all the pores of the body emanate light like the vajra fire at the end of existence, the flames of which completely fill the mandalas of the three worlds, thereby protecting all living beings from all fears.”

SOURCES

[1] Enlightenment Thangka>>

[2] Himalayan Art Project>>

[3] Wikipedia>>

[4] Shurangama Mantra>>

[5] Zen Gateway>>

[6] Rigpawiki Sitapatra>>

[7] Wikipedia Sitapatra>>

[8] White Umbrella Goddess Insightstate>>