Doumu

Sixteen arms is a Buddhist body on a Daoist goddess, and the borrowing is not disguised — Doumu is one of the clearest cases in Chinese religion of a figure assembled from more than one tradition and worshipped without anyone minding. Her office is the Dipper, which in Chinese astrology holds the registers of life and death, so a prayer to her is a prayer about how long you have. The registry had no Dipper deity at all.

Domains

• stars
• heaven

Sources

• Doumu is the Daoist and folk-religion goddess who is mother of the Big Dipper and the female half of heavenly energy against Tian's male half, shown with sixteen arms.: Reference treatment of Doumu, her office and her iconography. (secondary)