Tibetian Ritual Items

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Rites and rituals are an essential part of Tibetan Buddhism and reflect its practical side. Not restricted to temples alone, they are performed in a variety of places and circumstances, including individual homes, for a myriad of purposes. Daily ceremonies are conducted in temples, although they are perhaps not so elaborate as those that take place in Hindu temples in India and Nepal.

Throughout the year, too, special rituals are performed to propitiate deities, to precipitate rain, to avert hailstorms, diseases, and death, to ensure good harvests, to exorcise demons and evil spirits, and of course to destroy the passions of the mind and, ultimately, the ego. All these practices-whether occult, magical, or shamanistic, require various implements which are as important as the images of the deities in whose service they are employed. Each such object is pregnant with symbolic meaning and is frequently imbued with magical power and potency.

Some of the important ritual items in Tibetan Buddhism are:

The Vajra or Thunderbolt, also known in Tibetan as dorje

The Bell, known in Sanskrit as the Ghanta, and in Tibetan as dril bu

The Phurpa (Ritual Dagger)

The Skull Cup, known as kapala in Sanskrit

The Curved Knife or Chopper

Bowls

Kettles to Hold Sacred Waters

Butter Lamps for Offering

Skulls for Esoteric Tantric Practices

Incense Holders

Prayer Wheels (Hand-held and for the Altar)

Gaus (Portable Shrines)

Trumpets

Damaru (Double Drum)