A bird that eats serpents, a thunderbolt that became a diamond, a box worn against the heart. A short guide to the sacred symbols you will meet in Tibetan Buddhist jewelry, what each one means, and how to wear them with respect.
Tibetan jewelry has always been more than ornament. A herder's silver amulet box, a monk's vajra, a pilgrim's turquoise: each of these carries a story, and most of the stories are about protection, clarity or devotion. If you are drawn to Tibetan Buddhist jewelry, it helps to know what you are looking at.
Below are ten symbols that appear again and again, in temples, in thangka paintings and in the silver we carve. Each has a longer article in our Journal if you want to go deeper.
1. Garuda, the great bird
Half eagle, half man, Garuda is the king of birds, a figure Tibetan Buddhism shares with Hindu tradition. In Tibet he is called the khyung, and he is almost always shown holding a serpent in his beak or talons. The serpents are the nagas, beings of water and the underworld, and Garuda's victory over them stands for the mind's power to overcome what poisons it.
Read more: Garuda and the Khyung. In silver: our Garuda Pendant.
2. The vajra, or dorje
The vajra began in ancient India as a thunderbolt, the weapon of the storm god. Buddhism kept both meanings of the word: thunderbolt and diamond. It became the symbol of a mind that cannot be broken. In ritual, the vajra is held in the right hand and paired with a bell in the left: compassion and wisdom, method and insight, used together. Its prongs curve back in toward the centre, as if strength were folding back toward stillness.
Read more: The Vajra. In silver: the Garuda Five-Pronged Vajra Pendant and the Garuda Upright Vajra Pendant.
3. The crossed vajra
Two vajras crossed at right angles form the vishvavajra, the double or crossed vajra. Its four heads point to the four directions, and it is associated with stability and a firm foundation. It is often placed at the base of statues and buildings.
In silver: the Garuda Vishvavajra Pendant, and the crossed vajra at the heart of our Dharma Conch Pendant.
4. The stupa, or chorten
When the Buddha died, his ashes were divided and mounds were built over each share. Those were the first stupas. In Tibet they are called chorten, and they line passes and circle monasteries. A stupa is read as the body of the awakened mind, from its square base to the sun and moon at its tip. A stupa is meant to be filled: with relics, scriptures and prayers.
Read more: The Stupa. In silver: the Tibetan Stupa Locket, which opens.
5. The Eight Auspicious Symbols
The parasol, the golden fish, the treasure vase, the lotus, the white conch, the endless knot, the victory banner and the wheel. Together they are the Ashtamangala, painted over doorways and woven into carpets across the Himalaya. The right-turning white conch stands for the sound of the teaching carrying in every direction.
Read more: The Eight Auspicious Symbols. In silver: the Dharma Conch Pendant, carrying all eight.
6. The phurba
The phurba is a three-sided ritual stake, not a weapon. Tradition says that when the first monastery in Tibet, Samye, kept collapsing as it was built, the master Padmasambhava used the phurba to pin down the forces that opposed it. It belongs to the deity Vajrakilaya, and its three blades are said to cut through ignorance, attachment and aversion.
Read more: The Phurba. In silver: the Phurba Pendant.
7. The wind horse, or lungta
The horse at the centre of every Tibetan prayer flag is the lungta, the wind horse. It carries the jewel of good fortune on its back, and the prayers printed around it are sent out on the wind. "Raising the wind horse" is a Tibetan way of describing a person's energy and good standing being renewed.
Read more: The Wind Horse. In silver: the Wind Horse Locket and the Wind Horse Cuff.
8. The gau, the amulet box
A small box of silver or copper, worn on a cord against the chest and almost never opened. Inside, Tibetans traditionally carried a blessed image, a written prayer, a pinch of earth from a pilgrimage or a scrap of a teacher's robe. The box was never the point. What it held was.
Read more: The Tibetan Gau.
9. Elephants: six tusks and a broken one
In the story of the Buddha's birth, his mother Maya dreams of a white elephant with six tusks entering her side. The six-tusked elephant has stood for purity and the start of a great path ever since. Ganesha, the elephant-headed god with one broken tusk, also appears in Tibetan Buddhism, where he is revered as Ganapati, a remover of obstacles.
Read more: Ganesha and the Six-Tusked Elephant. In silver: the Six-Tusked Elephant Ring, the Six-Tusked Elephant Cuff and the Broken Tusk Ring.
10. The golden tortoise and the nine palaces
Tibetan astrology draws on Chinese sources, and one of its central images is a golden tortoise lying on its back, with the eight trigrams around it and the nine-square Luoshu grid on its belly. It is a map of time and space in one picture, used in calendars and almanacs to this day.
Read more: The Luoshu and the Nine Palaces. In silver: the Nine-Palace Zodiac Amulet.
How to wear Tibetan Buddhist jewelry with respect
You do not need to be Buddhist to wear these symbols, but they are still sacred to millions of people. A few customs are worth knowing:
- Treat sacred images with care. When you take a piece off, put it somewhere clean and raised rather than on the floor.
- Learn what the symbol is. Wearing a vajra and knowing it means an unbreakable mind is very different from wearing it as a pattern.
- Lockets such as the stupa and the gau were made to be filled. If you want one filled and sealed in the traditional way, we can have it consecrated at the monastery we work with before it ships.
What we claim, and what we don't
Everything above is history and cultural context. We do not claim that any piece will protect you, heal you or change what happens to you. What we make is hand-carved S925 sterling silver, with 24K fire-gilding where we say there is gold, cut to the proportions the tradition asks for. What you bring to it is your own.
Our studio is named after Kangrinboqe, Mount Kailash, the mountain at the heart of so many of these stories. You can read why in The Mountain Four Religions Walk Around.
Tibetan Buddhist Jewelry collection · Our fire-gilding · Consecration