Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
The Dipper Mother (Doumu), Primordial Sovereign, is the Ancestral Mother Primordial Sovereign of the Golden Essence of Night Light, of the White Jade Tortoise Terrace of Nine Numina and Great Wonder. She often bathes in the Flowery Pool of Nine Bends, from which rises the White Jade Tortoise Terrace with its throne of the divine xie beast. She is formed from the yin qi of prior heaven and presides over the Precious Pavilion of the Central Heaven. She has four heads and eight arms, with the face of a heavenly being of the Central Heaven, and wears a Dharma robe of sky-blue cloud brocade. Two of her hands form a mudra, and the other six hands each hold a ritual implement: one holds up the sun; one holds up the moon; one holds a halberd bearing a banner inscribed in gold with “Great Emperor, Thunder Ancestor of the Nine Heavens”; one holds a vajra pestle; one grasps a bow; and one holds an arrow.
The Dipper Mother sits on a precious lotus throne above the White Jade Tortoise Terrace. To the left and right of the terrace stand the two heavenly kings Yufan and Miaofan, and ten thousand sages and a thousand Perfected surround and protect her; her wondrous form glows with a perfect purple light. To save a chaotic world, she has taken many bodies in response to each kalpa, such as the Old Mother of Mount Li, the Holy Mother of Mount Tai, Mazu the sea goddess, and the Compassionate Worthy Heavenly Grandmother.
The Dipper Mother shows the lost the way, transmits secret texts and essential methods, and saves people from suffering and hardship.
The Dipper Mother has long dwelt in the heavenly palace. In high antiquity, when heaven and earth turned between good and evil, she manifested herself in mysterious guise. She once descended to Mount Li, responding to the kalpa and turning the destiny of the Tao, displaying her great numinous power and summoning worthy and talented people; she became known to the world as the Old Mother of Mount Li. The Old Mother of Mount Li plays an important role in novels and operas, as the teacher of many heroic women warriors, such as Fan Lihua of the Tang, Mu Guiying of the Song, the snake immortal Bai Suzhen, and Zhu Yingtai, who turned into a butterfly.
The Dipper Mother, refining and moving primordial qi, manifested a golden lotus and was born on Mount Tai. She withdrew to live on Mount Tai and cultivated for many years, her resolve as fresh as at the beginning, and happily attained the true fruit. Her merit complete and united with the Tao, she was recommended to heaven and received the title Perfected Bixia of the Heavenly Immortal Jade Maidens, Protector of the World and Great Helper, to guard Mount Tai forever, command the divine soldiers of the Peak Court, and examine good and evil in the human world. On her daily rounds of inspection she saw the wronged souls in the Blood Lake of Fengdu suffering retribution day and night without rest. With her ruyi scepter she washed away their sins: the Green Maiden turned to goodness, the ash river became a pool, and the lingering souls of the dead received the scriptures and were transformed, and all in the Blood Lake were delivered.
Within the Dipper there is the Jade Maiden of Wondrous Conduct, who since past kalpas has cultivated all wondrous practices, vowing to spread the true teaching, save all beings far and wide, and bring peace and joy to all. Lord Lao the Most High commanded the Jade Maiden of Wondrous Conduct to be born in the human world to relieve the suffering of the people. She was born into the world at the hour of Chen (7–9 a.m.) on the twenty-third day of the third lunar month in a Jiashen year. Numinous from birth and extraordinary as she grew, she cultivated wondrous practices with great diligence and displayed great divine powers, saving the people and vowing to free all sentient beings from danger and calamity and lift them out of hardship and suffering. Her merit perfected and her practice fulfilled, she ascended in broad daylight. The earth gods and the lords of the soil reported to the Three Heavens, and she was then granted the title Celestial Consort Who Assists the Dipper, Radiant in Filial Piety, Pure and Upright, Numinously Responsive, Trustworthy in Aid, Protector of the Nation and Shelter of the People, Wondrously Numinous and Radiantly Responsive, Spreading Benevolence and Universal Aid.
The Dipper Mother often bathes in the Flowery Pool of Nine Bends, from which rise the White Jade Tortoise Terrace and the throne of the divine xie beast. She mounts the precious throne to save all beings, holds the precious pestle to subdue demons and ward off disaster, bears the bow and arrows to rescue from kalpic calamities and dispel misfortune, and shakes the Dharma bell to save the living and deliver ghosts. She has sent down great medicines to bestow the merit of healing, harmonizing the Five Phases, raising and lowering the two qi, clearing blockages and removing obstructions, breaking through darkness and dispelling evil, so that the overdue come in due time and those who have lost their measure regain it. She keeps pregnancies safe and cures illness; her office as a great healer is weighty.
When Emperor Gaozong of the Song was besieged by the Jin army, he heard in the sky the sound of a carriage drawn by swine. Looking up, he saw the Dipper Mother, with four heads and eight arms, riding in a chariot drawn by seven swine, emitting a vast purple-gold light and exercising great magical power to rescue him from danger and protect him. From the time of this numinous manifestation, her worship grew daily among the people, and she was revered as the supreme honored one of the Dipper and the Pole. Because she can dispel calamity and relieve hardship, protect life and prolong years, she was titled: Sovereign Lord of Purple-Gold Wondrous Form, Heavenly Empress of Holy Virtue and Vast Light, Heavenly Worthy Mother of the Tao of Perfect Brightness.
Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng, at the turn of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, devoutly worshipped the Dipper on Mount Fuquan, awaiting the summons to ascend. The Dipper Mother was moved by compassion. Where the celestial pivot turned, with a sudden sound, her radiant and wondrous form appeared, riding in the chariot drawn by seven swine, and within a single double hour she descended into Patriarch Sanfeng's altar for Dipper worship. Forming colored clouds and suspending a precious throne, she expounded the True Scripture of the Nine Sovereigns.
Patriarch Wang Changyue, while cultivating the Tao, took a master on Mount Hua, who transmitted to him the Scripture of the Northern Dipper and the Incantation of the Northern Dipper. From then on he lived at the Northern Dipper Terrace on Mount Hua, practicing seated meditation and contemplation by day, and reciting scriptures and incantations and paying homage to the Northern Dipper by night, practicing visualization with utmost sincerity. The Dipper Mother descended to him three times to reveal his affinity with the Tao.
The Dipper Mother dwells in the Palace of the Great Brahma Heaven, oversees the sun, moon, and stars, and is the mother of the Dipper and the Pole. In the ancestral Longhan kalpa, the Dipper Mother pursued the cultivation of the mysterious numinous and wondrous Tao in the Heaven of Mysterious Brightness and True Purity, diligently serving the Primordial Supreme Worthy. Her incense of wisdom was fragrant and her lamp of knowledge shone brightly. She constantly made the utmost vow to give birth to sage sons who would aid the work of creation and govern heaven and earth; the power of her vow was firm, the same from beginning to end. Later she divided her body and descended as the consort of King Zhouyu. Afterward, the wondrous writings of Brahma qi unfolded into nine chapters and transformed in response into the Nine Sovereigns. Thus the Seven Primordials and Nine Sovereigns were all born in succession from the unified qi of prior heaven of the Dipper Mother.
Sacred Proclamation of the Dipper Mother
With utmost sincerity I take refuge and pay homage!
The single qi of the Mysterious Sovereign, brought to completion by the Female Mother. Her heavenly majesty is vast, transforming into the divine power of four heads and eight arms. Her jade pestle revolves, dividing the kinds of the ten extremities and the two modes. One destiny shining anew: in the human world she is called Holy Mother of the Golden Wheel. Three Perfected nurturing purity: in heaven she bestows the mysterious lineage of the Jade Dipper. Everywhere flying in numinous power, she brings into order the transformations of the myriad things that are not in order. Life after life, eternal destiny: she completes the jade light of the Three Powers not yet completed. Unsurpassed Mysterious Primordial Heavenly Mother, Compassionate Worthy of Formed and Wondrous Response. Great sage, great benevolence, utmost divinity, utmost ultimate: Marici Heaven, Great Sage, Primordial Chaos Dipper Mother Primordial Sovereign.