Sitatapatra
Encyclopedia
Sitātapatrā is the 'Goddess of the White Parasol' - protector against supernatural danger. She manifests as the wrathful form of Avalokiteshvara

Names

Her name is composed of sita (white) and atapatrā (parasol or umbrella
Umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a canopy designed to protect against rain or sunlight. The term parasol usually refers to an item designed to protect from the sun; umbrella refers to a device more suited to protect from rain...

) In Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, the pronunciation of her name varies between Siddham (syi dan dwo bwo da la) and Devanagari
Devanagari
Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

 (shi-tat-ta pa-ta-ra).

Mantras

The Shurangama Mantra
Shurangama Mantra
The Shurangama Mantra is a dharani or long mantra of East Asian Mahayana and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist origin that is popular in China, Japan, and Korea, although relatively unknown in modern Tibet, even though there are several Shurangama Mantra texts Sadhana, Shastra in the Tibetan Buddhist...

 (found in the 12 page long Shurangama Sutra
Shurangama Sutra
The ' is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra, and has been especially influential in the Chán school of Chinese Buddhism.- Etymology :According to Ron Epstein, roughly means "indestructible." The word is composed of Śūraṅ , with Gama...

) is the most commonly practiced source of the Great White Canopy Goddess (White Umbrella Deity form of Avalokiteshvara) According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Rinpoche
Rinpoche or Rinboqê is an honorific used in Tibetan Buddhism. It literally means "precious one," and is used to address or describe Tibetan lamas and other high-ranking or respected teachers. This honor is generally bestowed on reincarnated lamas, or Tulkus, by default...

, Great White Umbrella is the practice
Sadhana
Sādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...

 for healing illness, dispelling interferences and spirit harms, quelling disasters, and bringing auspiciousness. To do practice in full requires Kriya tantra empowerment
Abhisheka
Abhisheka is a Sanskrit term comparable to puja, yagya and arati that denotes: a devotional activity; an enacted prayer, rite of passage and/or religious rite or ritual...

 of the White Umbrella Deity. The sadhana cultivation can be performed without such an empowerment with permission from a qualified master, however, one cannot self-generate as the deity.

Ushnisha Sitatapatra

The Short Mantra for Ushnisha
Ushnisha
The ushnisha is a three dimensional oval at the top of the head of the Buddha. It symbolizes his attainment of reliance in the spiritual guide....

 Sitatapatra (Thousand Armed Goddess of the Great White Umbrella) is as follows:
OM
Om
Om is a sacred syllable of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.OM and similar may also refer to:-Music:* Om , a stoner metal band* Om , a 1965 album* OM , a 2006 album* Om...

 SARVA
Sarva
Sarva can refer to:* ', a Sanskrit word meaning all or everything and whole, complete.* ', meaning "archer", an epithet of the Vedic deity Rudra, and subsequently of the Hindu deity Shiva....

 TATHAGATA
Tathagata
Tathāgata in Pali and Sanskrit) is the name the Buddha of the scriptures uses when referring to himself. The term means, paradoxically, both one who has thus gone and one who has thus come . Hence, the Tathagata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena...

 USHNISHA
Ushnisha
The ushnisha is a three dimensional oval at the top of the head of the Buddha. It symbolizes his attainment of reliance in the spiritual guide....

  SHITATA PATRI HUM
Om mani padme hum
is the six syllabled mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara , the bodhisattva of compassion...

 PHAT
Phat
Phat may refer to:*Phat Wilson , a Canadian amateur ice hockey forward who played for the Port Arthur Bearcats*Huỳnh Tấn Phát , a South Vietnamese politician and revolutionary...

"His Sacred White Canopy protects us!"

Jeweled Parasol Flower Canopy

San dan dwo, Bwo da lan
Sa dan dwo, Be di li
Sa dan dwo, Bwo da la
Syi dan dwo Bwo da la,


"San dan dwo means ‘jeweled parasol.' Bwo da lan means ‘flowered canopy.' These parasols and canopies cover and protect the ten thousand things, so they all attain fulfillment and take their places in the scheme of things."

"There are jeweled parasols and flowered canopies of Vairochana Buddha. The Heart of All Mantras subdues the demon-hordes. Covered with ten thousand virtues, one obtains independence, As, nurturing those with potentials, the Mahayana is proclaimed."

Shurangama Mantra

Regarding the Great White Canopy Sheetatapatra line of the Shurangama Mantra, Shakyamuni Buddha states: “If there are people who cannot put an end to their habits from the past, you should teach them to single-mindedly recite my ‘light atop the Buddha’s summit’ unsurpassed spiritual mantra, mwo he sa dan dwo bwo da la."

Ushna is heat and light - like "shine" - see line 533.

From this Sadhana the Great White Canopy Goddess' Long Mantra is as follows:
TADYATHA OM AHNALÉ AHNALÉ
KHASAMÉ KHASAMÉ BIRÉ BIRÉ SOMI SOMI
SARVA BUDDHA AHDRI TANA AHDRI TANA TÉ SARVA TATHAGATA USHNISHA SHITATA PATRI
HUM
Phat
Phat may refer to:*Phat Wilson , a Canadian amateur ice hockey forward who played for the Port Arthur Bearcats*Huỳnh Tấn Phát , a South Vietnamese politician and revolutionary...



Om Namo Shitatapatra Devi

The Shurangama Mantra section containing Great White Canopy is :
SYI DAN DWO BWO DA LA,
MWO HE BA SHE LU,
SHAI NI SHAN,
MWO HE BWO LAI JANG CHI LAN,
YE BWO TU TWO,
SHE YU SHE NWO,
BYAN DA LI NA,
PI TWO YE,
PAN TAN JYA LU MI,
DI SHU,
PAN TAN JYA LU MI,
BWO LA PI TWO,
PAN TAN JYA LU MI,
DWO JR TWO,
NAN,
E NA LI,
PI SHE TI,
PI LA,
BA SHE LA,
TWO LI,
PAN TWO PAN TWO NI,
BA SHE LA BANG NI PAN,
HU SYIN DU LU YUNG PAN,
SWO PE HE.

Symbolism

Sitātapatrā, one of the most complex Vajrayana goddesses. According to Miranda Shaw in the "Buddhist Goddesses of India", Sitatapatra emerged from the crown of Shakyamuni Buddha's head
Ushnisha
The ushnisha is a three dimensional oval at the top of the head of the Buddha. It symbolizes his attainment of reliance in the spiritual guide....

 when he was in Trayastrimsa heaven. 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." Her benign and beautiful form belies her ferocity as she is a "fierce, terrifying goddess, garlanded by flames, a pulverizer of enemies and demons."

In the Mahayana "Sitatapatra Sutra", she is called "Aparajita" or "undefeatable" and is also identified as a form of goddess Tara
Tara (Buddhism)
Tara or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements...

 from the "Vairochana" Buddha family and is also called "Mahamaya", which is also the name of Sakyamuni's mother before he becomes the Buddha.

In other sutras, she is regarded as a female counterpart to Avalokiteśvara
Avalokitesvara
Avalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....

, the bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

 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 precious wheel is symbolic of the Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

's doctrine, both in its teachings and realizations.
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