The Victorious White Parasol Goddess - Ushnisha Sitatapatra

Who is The Victorious White Parasol Goddess - Ushnisha Sitatapatra ?
The name Ushnisha Sitatapatra translates as "The Victorious White Parasol. She is the protector against supernatural phenomena dangers and quelling disasters. Ushnisha Sitatapatra, is her name in Sanskrit, and 'Dug-Kar' is her name in Tibetan.

Her name is composed of 'Sita' (White) and 'atapatra (Parasol or Umbrella).She is known as the White Umbrella Goddess who saves us from all harm. Her parasol symbolizes protection from natural catastrophes, diseases, spirit harm and all forms of misfortune. 

Ushnisha Sitatapatra is one of the most complex Vajrayana goddesses. According to the Buddhist text,  Ushnisha Sitatapatra emerged from the Buddha's ushnisha when Buddha was in the 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.

The Victorious White Parasol Goddess - Ushnisha Sitatapatra is one of many powerful female deities. She manifests her power with her thousand heads, arms, and legs. She has eyes on the palms of each of her hands and soles of her feet, and each head has three eyes. 

Standing triumphantly within an aureole blazing with the fire of wisdom, the goddess tramples the enemies of spiritual attainment (such as anger, greed and delusion) with her numerous feet. In Ushnisha-Sitatapatra’s primary hands are the white umbrella of protection and the wheel of the Dharma (the Buddha’s teaching). Her other hands brandish various weapons and form a halo around her.

She has one thousand faces, arms and legs; each face has three eyes, and she has one eye in the palm of each hand and the sole of each foot, showing that she watches and protects sentient beings.Her central faces are white (as is her body); her right faces are yellow, the faces at the rear of her body are red, and the left faces green; there is also a "tier" of blue faces at the top of her head.

Her right hands hold wheels of the Dharma (dharmachakra) and her left hands hold arrows; one of her other left hands also holds aloft a white umbrella which also symbolises her protection.

She is venerated in both the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions. Ushnisha Sitatapatra is a powerful independent Bodhisattva as she was emanated by our Lord Shakyamuni Buddha  from his ushnisha. Whoever practices her mantra will be reborn in Amitābha's pure land as well as gaining protection against supernatural danger and black magic. Ushnisha Sitatapatr is a female counterpart of the thousand-armed form of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva.

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is a Sanskrit word, Avalokiteshvara  Bodhisattva is known as the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Ushnisha Sitatapatra has a thousand eyes that watch over living beings, and a thousand arms that protect and assist them. 

Ushnisha Sitatapatra, her parasol indicates her ability to protect sentient beings from natural disaster and diseases. 

She is white in color, because the principal means by which she accomplishes this function is the enlightenment energy of pacification. By Chanting her mantra invokes extremely powerful protection. Ushnisha Sitatapatra is a powerful independent deity as she was emanated by Shakyamuni Buddha from his Ushnisha. Whoever practices her mantra will be reborn in Amitābha's Dewachen pure land. 

Ushnisah Sitatapatra Bodhisattva is one of the most complex Vajrayana goddesses.Ushnisah Sitatapatra she emerged from the Buddha ushnisha when he was in the heaven. The Buddha announced her role to cut asunder completely all malignant demons,to cut asunder all the spells of others and 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 pulverized of enemies and demons or evils spirits.

Ushnisha Sitatapatra has strong and magic power to influence all living creatures with her noble moral. The white umbrella in her hand is one of the eight pieces of treasures which is said can be used to drive away the monsters and bring peace. It is said that anyone who have received the oral transmission or empowerment , a minimum requirement to complete the recitation of her mantra is 100, 000 times.

What do the demons under Ushnisha Sitatapatra feet and its representation?

Demons in the Buddhist sense are the bad qualities within all living beings that hinder our path to Buddhahood, such as greed, hatred, and pride. Buddhists have compassion for all beings, even the demons, who must be subdued and brought back into the fold. 

Every being in the universe will eventually attain enlightenment, including the most evil. For all Buddhists, there is no ultimate evil, only delusions represented by demons, who need to be guided back on the Buddhist path. Representations of demons also assist in the meditation on one’s own inner demons that need subduing. The meditator seeks to become like the deity and subdue these inner demons.

Ushnisha Sitatapatra manifests in many elaborate forms, the most commonly manifestation of having a thousand faces, arms and legs or simply as a feminine deity or goddess of great beauty. She us known foremost for her "White Umbrella or 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's doctrine, both in its teachings and realization.

** Footnote
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods which, if they are practiced in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct.

Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practice! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the tantric practice, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain and sure that bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.

It is absolutely necessary to have the pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practice is not carried out to increase one’s own power and profit. 

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Aspiration For Bodhichitta

May the precious Bodhichitta arise

Where it has not arisen

And where it has arisen may it not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

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