Phurba

Most of what is known of the Indian kīla lore has come by way of Tibetan culture. Scholars such as F. A. Bischoff, Charles Hartman and Martin Boord have shown that the Tibetan literature widely asserts that the Sanskrit for their term phurba is kīlaya (with or without the long i). However, as Boord describes it,

all dictionaries and Sanskrit works agree the word to be kīla (or kīlaka). I suppose this [discrepancy] to result from an indiscriminate use by Tibetans of the dative singular kīlaya. This form would have been familiar to them in the simple salutation namo vajrakīlaya (homage to Vajrakīla) from which it could easily be assumed by those unfamiliar with the technicalities of Sanskrit that the name of the deity is Vajrakīlaya instead of Vajrakīla. The term (vajra)kīlaya is frequently found in Sanskrit texts (as well as in virtually every kīlamantra) legitimately used as the denominative verb 'to spike,' 'transfix,' 'nail down,' etc.[1]

Mayer (1996) contests Boord's assertion, pointing out that eminent Sanskritists such as Sakya Pandita employed Vajrakīlaya.[2] Further, he argues:

it is possible, on the other hand, that the name Vajrakīlaya as favoured by the Tibetans could in fact have been the form that was actually used in the original Indic sources, and that there is no need to hypothesize a correct form "Vajrakīla". "Vajrakīlaya" could have come from the second person singular active, causative imperative, of the verb Kīl. Indigenous grammar (Pāṇini Dhātupāṭha I.557) gives to Kīl the meaning of bandha, i.e. "to bind", while Monier-Williams (285) gives the meanings "to bind, fasten, stake, pin". Hence the form kīlaya could mean "you cause to bind/transfix!", or "bind/transfix!". This, taken from mantras urging "bind/transfix", or "may you cause to bind/transfix", might have come to be treated as a noun; and the noun might then have become deified; hence Kīlaya might have started out as a deified imperative, in some ways comparable to the famous example of the deified vocative in the name Hevajra, and a not unheard of phenomenon in Sanskrit tantric literature. This suggestion is supported by Alexis Sanderson, a specialist in Sanskrit tantric manuscripts whom I consulted on this problem.[3]

Phurba in the Asian collection of the American Museum of Natural History

The fabrication of phurba is quite diverse. Having pommel, handle, and blade, phurba are often segmented into suites of triunes on both the horizontal and vertical axes, though there are notable exceptions. This compositional arrangement highlights the numerological importance and spiritual energy of the integers three and nine. Phurba may be constituted and constructed of different materials and material components, such as wood, metal, clay, bone, gems, horn or crystal.

Like the majority of traditional Tibetan metal instruments, the phurba is often made from brass and iron (terrestrial and/or meteoric iron. 'Thokcha' (Tibetan: ཐོག་ལྕགས, Wylie: thog lcags) means "sky-iron" in Tibetan and denote tektites and meteorites which are often high in iron content. Meteoric iron was highly prized throughout the Himalaya where it was included in sophisticated polymetallic alloys such as Panchaloha for ritual implements. The pommel of the phurba often bears three faces of Vajrakīla, one joyful, one peaceful, one wrathful, but may bear the umbrella of the ashtamangala or mushroom cap, Yidam (like Hayagriva) , snow lion, or stupa, among other possibilities. The handle is often of a vajra, weaving or knotwork design. The handle generally has a triune form as is common to the pommel and blade. The blade is usually composed of three triangular facets or faces, meeting at the tip. These represent, respectively, the blade's power to transform the negative energies known as the "three poisons" or "root poisons" (Sanskrit: mula klesha) of attachment/craving/desire, delusion/ignorance/misconception, and aversion/fear/hate.

Cantwell and Mayer (2008) have studied a number of texts recovered from the cache of the Dunhuang manuscripts that discuss the phurba and its ritual usage.[4]

The phurba is one of many iconographic representations of divine symbolic attributes (Tibetan: phyag mtshan)[5] of Vajrayana and Hindu deities. When consecrated and bound for usage,[note 1] Phurba are a nirmanakaya manifestation of Vajrakīlaya.

Chandra, et al. in their dictionary entry 'korkor' (Tibetan: ཀོར་ཀོར, Wylie: kor kor) "coiled" (English) relates that the text titled the 'Vaidūry Ngonpo' (Tibetan: བཻ་ཌཱུརྻ་སྔོན་པོ, Wylie: bai dUry sngon po) has the passage: ཐག་བ་ཕུར་བ་ལ་ཀོར་ཀོར་བྱམ "a string was wound round the (exorcist's) dagger [phurba]."[6]

One of the principal methods of working with the phurba and to actualize its essence-quality is to pierce the earth with it; sheath it; or as is common with Himalayan shamanic traditions, to penetrate it vertically, point down into a basket, bowl or cache of rice (or other soft grain if the phurba is wooden). The terms employed for the deity and the tool are interchangeable in Western scholarship. In the Himalayan shamanic tradition, the phurba may be considered as axis mundi. Müller-Ebelling, et al. affirm that for the majority of Nepalese shaman, the phurba is cognate with the world tree, either in their visualisations or in initiatory rites or other rituals.[7]

The phurba is used as a ritual implement to signify stability on a prayer ground during ceremonies, and only those initiated in its use, or otherwise empowered, may wield it. The energy of the phurba is fierce, wrathful, piercing, affixing, transfixing. The phurba affixes the elemental process of 'space' (Sanskrit: ākāśa) to the Earth, thereby establishing an energetic continuum. Phurba, particularly those that are wooden are for shamanic healing, harmonizing and energy work and often have two nāgas (Sanskrit for snake, serpent and/or dragon, also refers to a class of supernatural entities or deities) entwined on the blade. Phurba often also bear the ashtamangala, swastika, sauwastika and/or other Himalayan, Tantric or Hindu iconography or motifs.

The phurba as an iconographical implement is also directly related to Vajrakilaya, a wrathful deity of Tibetan Buddhism who is often seen with his consort Diptacakra (Tib. 'khor lo rgyas 'debs ma). He is embodied in the phurba as a means of destroying (in the sense of finalising and then freeing) violence, hatred, and aggression by tying them to the blade of the phurba and then transmuting them with its tip. The pommel may be employed in blessings. It is therefore that the phurba is not a physical weapon, but a spiritual implement, and should be regarded as such.

As Müller-Ebeling, et al. state:

The magic of the Magical Dagger comes from the effect that the material object has on the realm of the spirit. The art of tantric magicians or lamas lies in their visionary ability to comprehend the spiritual energy of the material object and to willfully focus it in a determined direction. . . The tantric use of the phurba encompasses the curing of disease, exorcism, killing demons, meditation, consecrations (puja), and weather-making. The blade of the phurba is used for the destruction of demonic powers. The top end of the phurba is used by the tantrikas for blessings.[8]

As Beer states:

The sting of the scorpion's whip-like tail transfixes and poisons its prey, and in this respect it is identified with the wrathful activity of the ritual dagger or kīla. Padmasambhava's biography relates how he received the siddhi of the kīla transmission at the great charnel ground of Rajgriha from a gigantic scorpion with nine heads, eighteen pincers and twenty-seven eyes. This scorpion reveals the kīla texts from a triangular stone box hidden beneath a rock in the cemetery. As Padmasambhava reads this terma text spontaneous understanding arises, and the heads, pincers, and eyes of the scorpion are 'revealed' as different vehicles or yanas of spiritual attainment. Here, at Rajgriha, Padmasambhava is given the title of 'the scorpion guru', and in one of his eight forms as Guru Dragpo or Pema Drago ('wrathful lotus'), he is depicted with a scorpion in his left hand. As an emblem of the wrathful kīla transmission the image of the scorpion took on a strong symbolic meaning in the early development of the Nyingma or 'ancient school' of Tibetan Buddhism.[9]

• Kartika – Buddhist ceremonial flaying knife
• Kris – Indonesian weapon
• Kukri – Knife associated with the Gurkhas of Nepal

• Beer, Robert (1999). The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs. Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 1-57062-416-X.
• Boord, Martin (1993). Cult of the Deity Vajrakila. Institute of Buddhist Studies. ISBN 0-9515424-3-5.
• Boord, Martin J. (2002). A Bolt of Lightning From the Blue. The Vast Commentary on Vajrakila that Clearly Defines the Essential Points. Berlin: Edition Khordong. ISBN 3-936372-00-4.
• Cantwell, Cathy; Mayer, Robert (2008). Early Tibetan Documents on Phur pa from Dunhuang. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-6100-4.
• Das, Sarat Chandra (1902). Tibetan-English Dictionary with Sanskrit Synonyms. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
• Hummel, Siegbert (2007). Translated by G. Vogliotti. "The Lamaist Ritual Dagger (Phur bu) and the Old Middle Eastern ´Dirk Figures'". The Tibet Journal. 22 (4): 23–32.
• Karma Lingpa, Terton (2007). The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1st ed.). Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0143104940.
• Kerrigan, Michael; Bishop, Clifford; Chambers, James (1998). The Diamond Path: Tibetan and Mongolian Myth. Amsterdam: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-7054-3563-6.
• Khenpo Namdrol (1999). The Practice of Vajrakilaya. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion. ISBN 978-1-55939-103-0.
• Lumir, Jisl (1962). "Ein Beitrag zur ikonographischen Deutung der tibetischen Ritualdolche". Annals of the Naparstek Museum. Prague (1): 77–83 and tables 15–16.
• Mayer, Robert (1996). A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection: The Phur-pa bcu-gnyis. Kindsdale Publications. ISBN 1-870838-52-1.
• Mayer, Robert (Spring 1999). "Tibetan Phur.pas and Indian Kīlas". The Tibet Journal. Dharamsala. 15 (1): 3–42.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Müller-Ebeling, Claudia; Rätsch, Christian; Shahi, Surendra Bahadur (2002). Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas. Translated by Annabel Lee. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.
• Sherab, K. P.; Dongyal, K. T. (2009). The Dark Red Amulet: Oral Instructions on the Practice of Vajrakilaya. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1559393119.
• Tsadra Foundation (2005). "phyag mtshan". Dharma Dictionary. Retrieved 2017-08-05.

• Cleland, Elizabeth (2001). The Vajrakilaya Sadhana: an Euro-American Experience of a Nyingma Ritual (PDF) (Thesis). Ottawa: Carleton University. Retrieved 26 February 2007.