The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols by Robert Beer

Author:Robert Beer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala

Caduceus or serpent-trident.

THE SPEAR

(Skt. kunta, shakti, shula; Tib. mdung)

The spear or lance is a right-hand ‘method’ weapon of many wrathful deities, and essentially symbolizes the piercing or impaling of all false views and distorted notions. Many different Sanskrit names were given to the spears of ancient Indian warfare. The term shakti, meaning ‘powerful’, was probably applied to a spear made exclusively from iron. The mahashakti or ‘great spear’ was reputed to have been adorned with bells. The rathashakti or ‘chariot spear’ was a name given to both a long ornate thrusting-lance with a flag, and a simple javelin that could be hurled from a chariot. The prasa had a broad bladed-head similar to a sword, and the shula or ‘spike’ had a spearhead similar to the central point of a trident (Skt. trishula). However, the most common Sanskrit term for the spear was kunta.

As a hand-held weapon the spear is usually depicted with a long shaft of red or white sandalwood, or of oak-wood (Tib. be-mdung). The shaft may be sealed at its lower end with a half-vajra, jewel, or small round pommel. The spearhead is fashioned of flame-tipped blue iron, and its shape may resemble a pointed sword, a vajra spike, or an arrowhead. The blue spearhead is usually mounted in a decorative golden hub, from which hangs a small bloodstained yak-tail pennon that billows slightly to one side. A white skull may also be positioned above the yak-tail pennon and its golden hub. The spears of certain protective deities are described as being fashioned from precious substances, such as gold, silver, copper, crystal, lapis lazuli, or coral. The wrathful protective deity Treasure Club Mahakala is described as holding a long spear made from the thighbone of a demoness known as a rakshasi. Various kinds of spears are also assigned to the ‘eight classes of spirits’, these include: the red spear of the btsan demons with bloodstained pennons; the white spear of the dbal demons, and the jeweled spears of the rgyal-po or ‘spirit kings’.

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