Page 49 - Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols
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Handbook of Tibetan Buddhis#12B  9/1/10  11:38 AM  Page 31







                                             The Five Attributes of Sensory Enjoyment                     31


                       dragon. On Indian-style thangkas the lute  deities, these monastic cymbals appear in the
                       may be shown in the form of the Indian vi-  form of the flat cymbals (Tib. zil-snyan) used
                       chitra vina, with two resonating gourds fas-  in peaceful rites, rather than the domed
                       tened beneath a long and tubular-sectioned  cymbals (Tib. rol-mo) used in wrathful rites.
                       wooden or bamboo neck.                       When gongs are depicted they are repre-
                         When two golden cymbals are depicted    sented as a pair of symmetrical bell metal
                       to represent the faculty of sound, they are  bowls, with two wooden striking sticks
                       commonly depicted in a symmetrical        placed within them, and cloth rings under-
                       arrangement at the front center of the offer-  neath their bases to sustain their resonance
                       ing bowl, with a draped silk ribbon looped  when struck. The Chinese gong (Ch. lo), and
                       between their central handles. These cym-  the Mongolian gong (Mon. dudaram), were
                       bals may take the form of the small Tibetan  probably the prototypes of these symbols,
                       hand cymbals (Tib. ting-shag), made of bell  which began to appear in later Tibetan art.
                       metal, which are about three inches in diam-  In the modern mythology of the New Age
                       eter and produce a sustained high-pitched  spiritual movement these gongs have come
                       ring. But they more commonly take the form  to be known as ‘Tibetan singing bowls’, and
                       of the large bronze cymbals, which are used  many fantastic tales of occult power have
                       in monastic rituals and produce a clashing  been grafted onto their recent history and
                       sound. As a sense offering to the peaceful  innovative techniques of playing. Brass or
                                                                 bronze bowls first began to appear on Ti-
                                                                 betan refugee stalls during the 1970’s, but
                                                                 these objects were actually the eating or of-
                                                                 fering bowls of these impoverished refugees.
                                                                 Over the last few decades these Tibetan
                                                                 singing bowls have been widely manufac-
                                                                 tured for the tourist markets of India and
                                                                 Nepal, but stories of their employment in
                                                                 ancient Tibet as mystical musical instru-
                                                                 ments are a modern myth.
                                                                    When a flute is depicted it generally takes
                                                                 the form of the Indian bamboo flute, or the
                                                                 long transverse Chinese flute or ti. The ti is
                                                                 fashioned from bamboo, with six or seven
                                                                 finger holes and two mouth holes. When this
                                                                 flute is played a thin bamboo membrane
                                                                 covers one of the lower mouth holes, which






                         Pair of ritual bronze cymbals (top left); bowl
                           gong with wooden striker (top right).
                        Below are two pairs of Tibetan cymbals joined  Chinese flute (ti) with bamboo membrane (top);
                           together with silk cloth as an offering.  pair of Indian flutes tied with silk (bottom).
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