Doumu
Dǒumǔ, also known as, and, is a goddess in Chinese religion and Taoism. She is also named through the honorific Tiānhòu, 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 God of Heaven. 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. In certain Taoist accounts she is identified as the ambiguous goddess of life and death Xiwangmu.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" Dao 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, as attested, among others, by Ge Hong.Buddhist interpretation
In Vajrayana traditions of Chinese Buddhism, 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 dharanis used for Marici, but with eight verses in Han Chinese added in the beginning to praise her.Artistic depictions