skeletons, skulls and bones

7/27/2019 Skeletons, Skulls and Bones

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We all have them and rely on them everyday. However in our culture we do not normally see them nor do we like n fact, we take great care to avoid seeing these things, for in youth-oriented Western society, dying is considered aatastrophe or at least, a "tragedy," and death is a secret. Since the 1920's in most of North America, it has been thractice to embalm corpses and use cosmetics on them. We rarely get to see the structures that support our bodies aontain our humanity.

n the highest mountains, where the soil is not deep and the air is clear and dry, the bones of animals and humaneings can be seen just as they are. Also, above the tree line, wood for carving or sculpting is not easily come by, a

o bone often fulfills those purposes. For example, a thighbone makes a good trumpet; a skull, a bowl. Bones, humand animal are also used to make ornaments and ritual items like malas and bead "aprons."

he Skull

A skull cup (Sanskrit, kapala) is a bowl made from a cranium. It can serve as a support for contemplation of ourmpermanence, reminding us to do our practice since death can come at any time. European monks and scholars kekulls on their desks to serve as momento mori -- reminders of the immanence of death -- for much the same reasoometimes it was sufficient to "hide" the skull in the composition of a painting.

n Himalayan Buddhism, the skull cup performs a similar purpose to the kumbha, a clay pot used in Vedic ritual. Itlso evocative of the begging bowl used by the Buddha and his monks, and of the gourd or kalasha used in ancient

mes for carrying water. As a water pot, it reminds us to heed the teachings, to focus on meditation and not to sprineaks of distraction.

n Buddhist imagery, a kapala can be present as an offering bowl on a shrine, or held in the left hand of a deity.ometimes it is held at the heart level, sometimes a dakini raises it as if to drink. It roils with the ambrosia of wisdoliss or it contains a placid, healing nectar.

Guru Padmasambhava displays a skull cup containing the Ocean of Nectar -- the dharma wisdom teachings -- withask of the Essence of Longevity floating in it. As a shrine offering (in the form of a torma or as it appears in a

angka) the skull cup contains the "sense offering" which, at first glance, may seem gruesome. In the bowl, oftenecidedly three-cornered, we can see a pair of eyes on their stalks, two ears, a nose and a tongue. This is simply a

lear one-to-one iconography in which the senses are represented by the organs that are the means of input. Theriangular form of the symbolic skull can be understood to represent the Buddhist practitioner whose mind is beingransformed by the Three Jewels and their tantric "corollaries," or Roots.

Guru Rinpoche and Vajrayogini both are depicted carrying a khatvanga or staff upon which are impaled three severeads. The topmost one is a skull, the middle one is not yet dry, the bottom one is described as "fresh." They standhe three times (past, present and future.)

or use in benevolent practice, a skull can be donated to a monastery by the family of a deceased. For other practicHindu, Bon and Himalayan Buddhist)

The skull of a murder or execution victim is believed to possess the greatest tantric power; the skull of one whoied from a violent or accidental death, or from a virulent illness, possesses a medium magical power; the skull of erson who died peacefully in old age has virtually no occult power. The skull of a child who died during the onseuberty also has great potency, as do the skulls of miscegenated [sic] or misbegotten child of unknown paternity, brom the forbidden union of castes, out of wedlock, from sexual misdemeanor, or particularly from incest. Themisbegotten skull' of a seven or eight-year-old child born from an incestuous union is considered to possess thereatest power in certain tantric rituals. Here the vital force or potential of the skull's 'previous owner' is embodied

within the bone as a spirit, rendering it as an effective power object for the performance of tantric rituals.

AND




In the iconography of wrathful protective deities the skull cup, held at the level of the heart, may also be paired whe curved knife or chopper which may be held above the skull cup. Here the chopper is the weapon that severs theeins and vital organs of demonic enemies, and the cup is the oblation vessel in which the blood and organs areollected as the deity's sustenance. Descriptions of the contents of a wrathful deity's kapala include warm humanlood, blood and brains, blood and intestines, human flesh and fat, the heart or the heart and lungs of an enemy, theart of Mara and the blood of Rudra.

igures of buddhas and bodhisattvas in their wrathful aspects often display a 5-skull crown. Here, each skullepresents a buddha family and its corresponding quality in the form of the "death" of an associated negativity such

nger, desire, etc.

The Beautiful City" where Buddha Shakyamuni's family lived was called Kapilavastu. It was named for an ancienage known as Kapila, for Skull (of Wisdom.) About five hundred years later, Jesus gave teachings on a skull-shapill outside Jerusalem called Golgotha, a word meaning Skull Place.hiva's Necklace

he Great God of India, who alone remains when the universe dissolves, is portrayed atop a mound of ashes andncinerated bones. Symbolizing that he is the sole sustainer of all manifestation (Skt. Shaiva-siddhanta-shara,) he isoated in ash and adorned with a garland of skulls.

n Hindu practice, the ash (Skt. vibhuti) of ritual fires is used by yogis to coat their bodies, giving them an unearthlyven a corpse-like, appearance. The whitened effect is a symbol of the complete consumption of mundane desire,specially of a sexual nature.one Aprons

he use of human bone for the purpose of Buddhist ritual may have originated in India. Some researchers attribute hamanic origin, but there is evidence to suggest that, on the contrary, shamanism (and true shamanism is a north Aractice) was not the source. That is, due to the spread of Buddhism to Mongolia and Siberia , the use of this type tual adornment may have come from practitioners of Buddhism, and not the other way around.

Not long before the second diffusion of Buddhism under Shantarakshita and Guru Rinpoche, Krishnacharya (Tib.Nagpopa,) the 8th-century Mahasiddha, received the instruction and details of this 6-fold [bone] costume directly f

Dakini. He is responsible for the Anuttara Yoga Tantra of Chakrasamvara (Tib: khorlo demchog) or Wheel ofupreme Bliss.

One of the earliest works to mention the use of human skulls and the bone costume is the biography of Marpa theranslator, guru of yogi Milarepa who instructed Gampopa and founded the Kagyu denomination.

ach of the items represents one of the Six Paramitas or 6 Perfections. The tiara stands for Generosity (Skt. dana.) Trmlets represent Morality (shila.) The bracelets are for Patience (kshanti.) The anklets, for energy of action (virya.he apron, for meditation (dhyana) and the chest piece stands for wisdom (prajna.)

When the Paramitas are counted as ten in number, then there is a pair of earrings and a set of three separate necklac

hat complete the set. The necklaces include a choker and a waist-length one, with a medium-length one in betwee

n 8th-century Xixia and Tibetan paintings of Vajravarahi, the ornaments appear just as they did in David-Neel's phf a ngagpa (Tibetan yogin.) The yogin has a khatvanga leaning on his left shoulder and holds bell and dorje.

Nowadays, the 5-skull crown representing the Buddha families has been replaced by a foldable one of paintedardboard. We would not usually see someone wearing the bone costume in public. In iconography and "opera," it eserved for the depiction of early historical figures and dakinis.

Gelugpa practitioners do not use human bone. Even for the lineages that would do so, human bones are generally nwidely available, since they should be freely donated for the purpose of Buddhist ritual. Also, as in the case of a thi




one trumpet, the bone should have come from a young person. For those reasons, ivory (at one time) and animal bre used instead.

stournel says that the finest of these tantric costumes are from Central Tibet and date from the 14th and 15thenturies. As the workshops that used to produce them no longer exist, and since the cords and thongs used to link one elements are subject to decay, there are likely no original, complete sets still in existence. The only way of tel

whether an item in a set is from one maker or another, and whether a set is complete, is to examine the carving on tlaques that unite the many strings of round beads.

n a famous tangka of Dorje P'hamo (Vajravarahi) on display in The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, eity wears bone ornaments in the form of a skirt shaped like lotus petals, with dangling bead ties, and a long garlaf heads in the manner of the great Indian goddess. (The tangka is known to be based on one that was in Khara-kotapital of Xiaxa, at the time the region fell to Temujin Genghis Khan in 1227.)

he apron part of the costume has developed a few different forms over time. In the Estournel article, there arexamples of two rectangular types, one has discs carved with dharma emblems linking the strands, as well as the usype of rectangular plaque. Another one is triangular, but one suspects that that shape may be partly the result ofeveral missing strands.

his segment is primarily based on the article by Jean-luc Estournel called "Rus-pa'i-rgyan: parures tibetaines en o

umain" which appeared in La revue de l'Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art in1992.Dancing Skeletons

A pair of skeletons appears in the tangkas of some Himalayan Buddhist lineages. Each one has a staff, and one holask of amrita while the other bears a skull cup. They are called the Chitipati. Interestingly, though most often theyance in parallel (as in a chorus line,) sometimes it is evident that they are a couple -- a male and female that dancomplementary or opposite fashion, intertwined and gazing at each other. They may be shown dancing on two corpr on two shells.

egend tells how a pair of yogis were so absorbed in their meditation inside a certain Himalayan cave, that they didot even notice when a murderous brigand cut off their heads. Some believe that they have sworn revenge on all su

marauders and will stop at nothing to protect their domain.

Shri Chitipati arises from the Secret Essence Wheel Tantra and is associated with the Chakrasamvara TantraAnuttarayoga Tantra, a highest category.) Primarily employed as a wealth practice with emphasis on protecting frohieves, they also serve as the special protector for the Vajrayogini [Naro Khechari] practice. Shri Chitipati is nowommon, to a greater or lesser extent, in all the Sarma ["new translation"] Schools.

If you zoom in on a Nyingma tangka of Guru Rinpoche as "Lion's Roar," there is depicted a spirit of the charnelrounds in skeleton form dancing in the flames of awareness.

Among the dances performed by the Drepung Loseling monks for the surrounding populace, is Durdak Garcham,Dance of the Lords of the Cemetery." The dancers, in bright red robes decorated with white bones, bend, kick and

evolve while waving their long bony "fingers." However the intention is not to frighten but to remind the audiencehe transience of human life. Dancing is used as an adjunct to Buddhist discourse in Himalayan monasteries becausften the discourses are hard to follow, but dance breaks through the intellectual barrier. Also, the Dance of Deatheems to cut through our natural denial of mortality perhaps because of what is known as the kinaesthetic effect.

here are a number of other cham performances in which skeleton dancers figure.

Other Cultures

Dance of Death: Known as the Danse Macabre in the Western cultural tradition, it took the form of a processional f rowdy dance with some participants dressing up as skeletons. It was frequently performed in town squares durin



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he years that the plague or Black Death visited European cities.

inaesthetic effect: This is the easily observable effect that causes our own thigh muscles to contract as we watchomeone else jump for a basketball hoop, for example.

stournel: The original French article on his web site states that, since Waddell's Tibetan Buddhism (1895) anderthold Laufer's (1874-1934) paper, "The use of human bones and skulls in Tibet" (1923), not much else on the to

s found in the West.

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