SERPENTINEMOON CATALOGUE

The BEST Source on the Internet for a HUGE RANGE of TIBETAN ITEMS!!

SerpentineMoon Shop		QUILL Pens & Stands
ARTWORK - Psychic Art, Eternity Dreams Art		RUNES
		SHAMANIC Items & Smudge FEATHERS
ATHAMES and Fantasy KNIVES & SWORDS		SPELL Kits
		Tarot BAGS
BOOKS		TAROT Cards & ORACLE Cards
CANDLES		TIBETAN Items - POOJA (Puja) BELLS, BELL & DORJE Sets, SINGING BOWLS
Greeting CARDS
LODESTONES & MAGNETIC SAND		JEWELLERY & PEWTER FIGURES
MORTARS & PESTLES		WANDS
MUSIC		MISCELLANEOUS Items
PENDULUMS

Here at SERPENTINEMOON we stock a HUGE RANGE of TIBETAN ITEMS
at the very best prices that you will find on the Internet!!

Visit our STORE - We specialise in all types of Metaphysical items - Spirituality, Wicca, Pagan, Shamanism

We are able to supply whatever your needs may be!

In addition to our TIBETAN ITEMS, we stock a huge range of other products including - Greetings Cards, Books, Music, Tarot Cards & Bags, Oracle Cards, Beautiful Artwork, Athames and Fantasy Knives & Swords, Spell Kits, Runes, Pendulums, Wands, Candles, Quill Pens & Stands, a huge range of Jewellery, Pewter Figures, Shamanic Items, Smudge Feathers, Mortars & Pestles, Lodestones & Magnetic Sand plus much more.

CATALOGUE:

Puja (Pooja) Bells

Bell & Dorje Sets

Singing Bowls

Our range of MORTARS & PESTLES is shown below.

To make a PURCHASE and for DETAILED PRICING,
visit the SERPENTINEMOON SHOP.

Pooja (Puja) Bells

Medium Brass - 12cm		Medium Brass with Wooden handle - 14cm		Small Brass - 9cm
Small Brass Hanging Bells on String - 1"	Medium Brass Hanging Bells on String - 1.5"		Large Brass Hanging Bells on String - 2"		X-Large Brass Hanging Bells on String - 2.5"

Bell & Dorje Sets

Singing Bowls

Large Brass Tibetan Singing Bowl	Small Brass Tibetan Singing Bowl
Embroidered Cushion Rest for Singing Bowls (available in a range of colours)

The Puja bell is used during the Hindu ritual, Puja. The Puja ritual is performed regularly by Hindus to show respect for their Gods and Goddesses. A pleasing sound to the Gods, the Puja bell beckons them to come and banish evil spirits in the atmosphere.

Pooja, or Pūjā, is the religious ritual that Hindus perform on a variety of occasions to pray or show respect to God, Gods, and guru. The purpose of puja is to communicate with God and the Gods or the satguru, to keep a thread to continuity, of relationship, between this physical world and the subtle inner worlds. Puja also serves as a means of offering love, praise, thanks, and supplication to God, Gods, and guru. The offerings are made with an acknowledgement - "I dedicate to you O God, what is truly yours."

The bell and dorje are inseparable ritual objects in Tibetan Buddhism. The prayer bell is used to call the presence of the Buddha. Before chanting one rings the bell to clear the mind of worldly matters. The dorje represents the thunderbolt of enlightenment, that abrupt change in human consciousness which is the pivotal episode in the lives of mystics and saints.

When used in ritual, the dorje, or vajra, is paired with the bell. It represents the masculine principle, that of compassion expressed through skilful means, and is held in the right hand. The bell, or ghanta, held in the left hand, represents the female principle, the wisdom of emptiness. The union of these two principles is enlightened mind. The dorje can be used for visualization or evocation of deities; ringing the bell can be used to request protection or other actions from a deity, or it can represent the teaching of dharma, and can also be a sound offering.

As the sound resonates they balance the negative with the positive and harmonise one's life and one's surroundings. These are used in Feng Shui.

Not only can these Singing Bells be rung, but they also emit a beautiful set of continuous harmonic resonance frequencies when the outside rim is rubbed with the included wooden mallet.

The sound of a "singing" bell can also be used as a focal point in meditation.

In Buddhism, the bell represents Wisdom ("Prajna" in Sanskrit). It is held in the left hand during rituals, and it is also believed that the bell represents the female principle of the universe.

The Dorje is held in the right hand and represents the male principle of the universe when used in rituals. The Dorje also represents Method or Action ("Upaya" in Sanskrit) when combined with the bell.

However, it has a deeper meaning than this. It literally means "fitness of action," which is considered the same as Compassion ("Karuna" in Sanskrit) in some Buddhist schools. Hence, the use of the Bell and Dorje together is a symbol for the joining of Wisdom and Compassion.

The Dorje has an ancient history. It originally was a symbol for the Thunderbolt, wielded by the Hindu god Indra. In Buddhism, with its emphasis on clarity and enlightenment, it became a symbol for both a thunderbolt and a diamond. As a thunderbolt cuts through the dark of night, and a diamond can cut through any material, it is believed that an enlightened mind can cut through the fog of ignorance and confusion which we normally live in. Hence in Buddhism the Dorje became associated with the path to enlightenment.

(Please note that the Tibetan word Dorje is often spelled in English as Dorge).

The vajra destroys all kinds of ignorance, and itself is indestructible. In tantric rituals the Vajra symbolises the male principle which represents method in the right hand and the Bell symbolises the female principle, which is held in the left. Their interaction leads to enlightenment. Also the Dorje or Vajra represents the "Upaya" or method Tibetans name Vajra as "Dorje". When made to be worn as a pendant, it reminds the wearer, and the viewer, of the supreme indestructibility of knowledge.

In Buddhism the vajra is the symbol of Vajrayana, one of the three major branches of Buddhism. Vajrayana is translated as "Thunderbolt Way" or "Diamond Way" and can imply the thunderbolt experience of Buddhist enlightenment or bodhi and also implies indestructibility, just as diamonds are harder than other gemstones.

In the tantric traditions of both Buddhism and Hinduism, the vajra is a symbol for the nature of reality, or sunyata, indicating endless creativity, potency, and skilful activity. The term is employed extensively in tantric literature: the term for the spiritual teacher is the vajracarya; instead of bodhisattva, we have vajrasattva, and so on. The practice of prefixing terms, names, places, and so on by vajra represents the conscious attempt to recognise the transcendental aspect of all phenomena; it became part of the process of "sacramentalising" the activities of the spiritual practitioner and encouraged him to engage all his psychophysical energies in the spiritual life.

An instrument symbolising vajra is also extensively used in the rituals of the tantra. It consists of a spherical central section, with two symmetrical sets of five prongs, which arc out from lotus blooms on either side of the sphere and come to a point at two points equidistant from the centre, thus giving it the appearance of a "diamond sceptre", which is how the term is sometimes translated.

Various figures in Tantric iconography are represented holding or wielding the vajra. Three of the most famous of these are Vajrasattva, Vajrapani, and Padmasambhava. Vajrasattva (lit. vajra-being) holds the vajra, in his right hand, to his heart. The figure of the Wrathful Vajrapani (lit. vajra in the hand) brandishes the vajra, in his right hand, above his head. Padmasambhava holds the vajra above his right knee in his right hand.

The thunderbolt experience can be attained by meditation on the vajra, which is a symbol of union of relative and absolute truths. Relative truth is that which we experience in everyday time and physical space. Absolute truth exists in a timeless state of being in unity with all: Buddhahood. Yet the experience of Buddhahood is synchronous with relative truth. The vajra object itself shows two spheres joined in the centre, like the two spheres of the brain, and the experience of the thunderbolt comes at the centre of the brain. Following this powerful "bolt" one rests in equanimity in both worlds, being in the everyday world yet not identified with it. This is the Madhyamika.

From "Natural Great Perfection" by Nyoshul Khenpo and Lama Surya Das, 1995, comes this description:

"The ground of the Madhyamika is the two truths, the absolute and the relative. The path of the Madhyamika is the way to directly experience the truth of the union of the relative and the absolute."

The vajra is a tool for training the mind for sudden awakening to Madhyamika.

Symbolism of the Dorje, or Vajra:
The vajra is made up of several parts:
In the centre is a sphere which represents Sunyata, the primordial nature of the universe, the underlying unity of all things.

Emerging from the sphere are two eight petalled lotus flowers. One represents the phenomenal world (or in Buddhist terms Samsara); the other represents the noumenal world (or Nirvana). This is one of the fundamental dichotomies which are perceived by the unenlightened.

Arranged equally around the mouth of the lotus are two, four, or eight mythical creatures which are called makaras. These are mythological half-fish, half-crocodile creatures made up of two or more animals, often representing the union of opposites, (or a harmonisation of qualities that transcend our usual experience).

From the mouths of the makaras come tongues which come together in a point.

The five pronged vajra (with four makaras, plus a central prong) is the most commonly seen vajra. There is an elaborate system of correspondences between the five elements of the noumenal side of the vajra, and the phenomenal side. One important correspondence is between the five "poisons" with the five wisdoms. The five poisons are the mental states that obscure the original purity of a being's mind, while the five wisdoms are the five most important aspects of the enlightened mind. Each of the five wisdoms is also associated with a Buddha figure.

The following are the five poisons and the analogous five wisdoms with their associated Buddha figures:

The wisdom of individuality is also known as Discriminating Wisdom.

The vajra is the symbol of the vajra family presided by Akshobhya, whereas the double vajra is the symbol of the karma family presided by Amoghasiddhi.

Singing bowls (also known as 'Himalayan bowls' or 'rin' or suzu gongs in Japan) are a type of bell, specifically classified as a standing bell. Rather than hanging inverted or attached to a handle, standing bells sit with the bottom surface resting. The sides and rim of singing bowls vibrate to produce sound. Singing bowls were traditionally used throughout Asia as part of Bön and Tantric Buddhist sadhana. Today they are employed worldwide both within and without these spiritual traditions, for meditation, relaxation, healthcare, personal well-being and religious practice.

Singing bowls were historically made in Tibet, Nepal, India, Bhutan, China, Japan and Korea. Today they are made in Nepal, India, Japan and Korea. The best known type are from the Himalayan region and are often called "Tibetan singing bowls."

In Buddhist practice, singing bowls are used as a support for meditation, trance induction and prayer. For example, Chinese Buddhists use the singing bowl to accompany the wooden fish during chanting, striking it when a particular phrase in a sutra, mantra or hymn is sung. In Japan and Vietnam, singing bowls are similarly used during chanting and may also mark the passage of time or signal a change in activity.

The use of singing bowls in Tibet is the subject of much debate and many stories. Some people say they were used for meditation while others say they were magical tools for transformation of self and of matter.

Singing bowls can be used to start or end religious ceremonies. They were also utilized for Qi, or energy cleansing purposes - it is said that ringing the bowl banishes all negativity away from a space.

Little is known in western scholarship regarding Himalayan singing bowls. It is likely they were used in rituals, having a specific function like other instruments (such as the ghanta, tingsha and shang). The oral and written traditions from the Himalayan region are vast and largely unknown in the west. To date, no specific texts have been found discussing the use of singing bowls in depth, but according to Joseph Feinstein of Himalayan Bowls (2006), paintings and statues dating from several centuries ago depict singing bowls in detail. Singing bowls from at least the 10th-12th century are found in private collections. The tradition may date significantly earlier since bronze has been used to construct musical instruments since ancient times. Bronze bells from Asia have been discovered since as early as the 8th-10th century BCE (Feinstein, 2006).

Singing bowls are played by the friction of rubbing a wooden, plastic, or leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl to produce overtones and a continuous 'singing' sound. Genuine antique singing bowls produce a complex chord of harmonic overtones. Singing bowls may also be played by striking with a soft mallet to produce a warm bell tone.

Antique singing bowls are unique because they are multiphonic instruments, producing multiple harmonic overtones at the same time. Antique singing bowls are the fruit of sophisticated metallurgy, techniques currently deemed lost and provide a unique study in the Timeline of materials technology as do high quality bells and other instruments. The overtones are a result of their metalworking and fabrication which consists of multiple metals and were produced by a sophisticated hammered or beaten technique. The majority of new bowls are cast metal and not hammered and beaten with Metalworking hand tools, and produce only one tone.

Both Antique and New Bowls are widely used as an aid to meditation and as a tool for trance induction. They are also used in yoga, music therapy, sound healing, religious services, performance and for personal enjoyment.

This bowl is made from brass, although the true colour is hard to show. A wooden mallet is provided to 'sing' your bowl properly!

New bowls may be plain or decorated. They sometimes feature religious iconography and spiritual motifs and symbols, such as the Tibetan mantra Om mani padme hum, images of Buddhas, and Ashtamangala.

New singing bowls are made from industrial quality metal, mainly copper and sound like clear and simple bells.

For information, please email us