Dǒumǔ (), also known as , and , is a goddess in Chinese religion and Taoism. She is also named through the honorific Tiānhòu (天后 "Queen of Heaven"), shared with other Chinese goddesses, especially Mazu, who are perhaps conceived as her aspects. Other names are and .
She is the feminine aspect of the cosmic Chinese theology. The seven stars of the Big Dipper, in addition to two not visible to the naked eye, are conceived as her sons, the , themselves regarded as the ninefold manifestation of or , another name of the God of Heaven. She is therefore both wife and mother of the God of Heaven.[ p. 19.]
In religious doctrines
Taoist esotericism
In the esoteric teachings of
Taoism she is identified as the same as
Jinling Shengmu, and , representing the mother of the immortal "red infant" ()
Tao enshrined at the centre of the human body. This links her directly to the myths about the birth and initiation of
Laozi and the
Yellow Emperor (whose mother Fubao became pregnant with him after she was aroused by seeing lightning emanating from, or turning around, the Big Dipper
[ pp. 241, 246.]), as attested, among others, by
Ge Hong (283-343).
[抱朴子曰：復有太清神丹，其法出於元君。元君者，老子之師也。太清觀天經有九篇，云其上三篇不可教授，其中三篇世無足傳，常瀋之三泉之下，下三篇者，正是丹經上中下，凡三卷也。元君者，大神仙之人也，能調和陰陽，役使鬼神風雨，驂駕九龍十二白虎，天下衆仙皆隸焉，猶自言亦本學道服丹之所致也，非自然也。 ctext.org. See translation in "Humans, Spirits, and Sages in Chinese Late Antiquity: Ge Hong's Master Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi)", in Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident, 2007, N°29, pp. 95-119. Academia.edu.]
Buddhist interpretation
In
Vajrayana traditions of
Chinese Buddhism (
Tangmi), Doumu was conflated with Bodhisattva Marici at least by the
Tang dynasty. Marici too is described as the mother of the Way and the Dipper, at the centre of Brahma's Heaven of primal energy. Marici's chariot is pulled by seven boars. Furthermore she has also been associated and linked with Cundi. The incantation used in the Taoist scripture dedicated to Doumu is the same as one of the longer Buddhist
Dharani used for Marici, but with eight verses in Han Chinese added in the beginning to praise her.
Artistic depictions
File:Hall of Goddess Doumu.jpg|Hall of Doumu at the Green Ram Temple in Chengdu, Sichuan, China
File:Doumu altar and statue at the Doumugong of Butterworth, Penang.jpg|Doumu altar at a temple in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia
File:Goddess Doumu.jpg|Statue of Doumu at the Green Ram Temple
File:B-Doumou.JPG|Song dynasty statue of Doumu
File:Kunming Oct 2007 138.jpg|Statue of Doumu in Kunming, China
File:华阳观 斗姆元君.jpg|Doumu behind another god at Huayang Taoist Temple in Jieyang, Guangdong, China
File:斗姆元君.JPG|Statue of Doumu in Taiwan
File:Tou Mu, Goddess of the North Star.jpg|Illustration of Doumu (1922)
See also
- Other goddesses identified with the Great Chariot
Citations
Sources
