Sitatapatra

---

title: "Sitatapatra" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buddhist-tantras", "buddhist-mantras", "bodhisattvas", "yidams", "female-buddhas-and-supernatural-beings", "taras", "buddhoṣṇīṣas"] description: "Protector against supernatural danger in Buddhism" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitatapatra" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Protector against supernatural danger in Buddhism ::

| pic = Buddhist statue in Leh.jpg | picsize = 180px | piccap = Statue of 1000 arm Sitātapatrā in Leh, Ladakh, India | san = सितातपत्रा () | pli = Sitātapattā | c = 白傘蓋佛頂 | p = Bái Sǎngài Fódǐng | w = Pai2 San3-kai4 Fo2-ting3 | tib = གདུགས་དཀར་མོ། | wylie = gdugs dkar mo | mon = Цагаан шүхэрт Tsagaan shühert | 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 | romaji = Byaku Sangai Butchō Shitātapatorā | hangul = 시타타파트라 | rr = sitatapateura | tgl = Sitatapatla | tam = சீதாதபத்திரை

Sitātapatrā (Sanskrit: "White Parasol") 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.

Name

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

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.

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. 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

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/SitatapatraW2.jpg" caption="''Sitatapatra''"] ::

Sitātapatrā is one of the most complex Vajrayana goddesses. According to Miranda Shaw in the Buddhist Goddesses of India, Sitātapatrā emerged from Buddha's uṣṇīṣa when he was in the Trāyastriṃśa 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." 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."

In the Mahayana Sitatapatra Sutra, she is called Aparājita "Undefeatable, Unconquerable" and is also identified as a form of goddess Tārā.

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.

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.

References

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".
4. The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs by Robert Beer (1999) p.23
5. (2006). "Buddhist goddesses of India". Princeton Univ. Press.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::