Thousand-Armed Dukkar
Dukkar (Main figure)
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(Top to bottom): Dukkar and Dorje Shugden.
Deity: Dukkar (Tibetan)
Alternative names: Sitatapatra (Sanskrit); White Parasol (English)
The awe-inspiring Dukkar is an extremely efficacious female deity. According to scriptural sources, her all-powerful form emerged from the ushnisha or sacred crown protuberance of Buddha Shakyamuni, while he was in deep meditative absorption amidst the assembly of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Her supreme practice was popular in ancient India and has managed to retain its popularity to this day because it is extremely potent in averting obstacles for Buddhist practitioners.
In fact, Dukkar is invoked to protect practitioners from a wide range of problems and calamities ranging from attacks from malevolent spirits to unjustified legal suits. Her mantra is also said to repel negative interferences and purify negative defilements. Furthermore, her long mantra or dharani is traditionally worn in an amulet for protection, even in extremely dangerous circumstances, and it also has the power to alter adverse weather conditions. The protective blessings of Dukkar are invoked in a number of rituals such as her torma offering, fire puja, the creation of a protective circle, drawing of her mandala and her dharanis, which are often inserted into stupas and statues as highly sacred items.
The most commonly depicted form of Dukkar has 1,000 heads, 1,000 arms, 1,000 legs and thousands of eyes that oversee sentient beings. With her two central hands, she holds a Dharma wheel and a white parasol from which she takes her name. In her other hands she holds a multitude of various weapons. Her skin is radiant white in colour and her body is adorned with the various accoutrements of a bodhisattva.
Deity: Dorje Shugden (Tibetan)
Alternative name: Vajra Rudra (Sanskrit)
Dorje Shugden is a Dharma Protector that has been propitiated by all four major Tibetan Buddhist schools. Dorje Shugden is recognised to be an emanation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. In fact, Dorje Shugden arose from a long line of incarnated lamas who strove to proliferate and protect the teachings. He is a protector of recent origins, arising 350 years ago, and due to his strong affinity with beings of this time, he is widely renowned to be efficacious and powerful in overcoming our obstacles and creating favourable conditions for our practice.
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Beautiful art painting of Thousand-Armed Dukkar with Dorje Shugden. Dukkar or Sitatapatra is regarded as a female counterpart to Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Dukkar’s practice brings great blessings and protection to those travelling often and is very effective for purifying the karma for being wrongly accused such as in arguments or legal cases. She helps to strengthen the body against physical problems as well.
With Dorje Shugden in the beautiful art thangkas paints a thousand words of how powerful they are.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Dukkar is a fully enlightened Buddha. The white parasol represents the Buddha’s protective power, protecting sentient beings from natural catastrophes, diseases, and so forth. The precious wheel is symbolic of the Buddha’s doctrine.
Not only granting protection power, Dukkar heals and helps to strengthen the body against physical problems. Her practice is very effective for purifying the karma for being wrongly accused such as in arguments or legal cases. Her practise is beneficial for those who travel often and who are exposed to risks and dangers daily. It is very good to print out a picture of Dukkar and have it consecrated to hang in our house, office or area of disturbance.
Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for providing a brief history on Dukkar. I wish her practice was more well known here in the West as more and more people are doing “Ghost Hunts” and potentially putting themselves in harm’s way. It would be good for them to know how to protect themselves and not deal with those adverse consequences of communicating with Spirits or potentially demonic entities. Not to say all spirits are evil but you never know what kind of attachments may occur.
It is interesting to know about dukkar