Human Malas

[goat]

ok

[Scott Hutton]

The mala arrived today; it is I thought:  the "stones" (3 round pebble like concretions) look exactll like cremation relics that had come my way before.  I am happy with this mala, but I'm not sure what to do with it - perhaps it will be my "night" mala:  that is to say, I always sleep with at least one mala in my bed, and clock mantras whenever I am sleepless during the night.  Usually I say Padmasambhava's mantra but currently I am experiencing a great attraction to the Tsonkhapa mantra; the two seem to complement each other.

I was wrong about it being well worn rudraksha beads; it is well worn, and I mean well worn, bodhi beads and, I think, quite old.  It has a smoke aroma about it, an aroma I have only experienced from "real" Amerind medicine bags - leather cured properly in the Old Indian Way.  That was a surprise.  It's the smoke of cured ham, or leather, and quite pungent.

At any rate, I am virtually certain that the "stones" are cremation relics, a form of rilnag, but of course we will never identify the Being whose relics they are.  I have a sense that the mala goes back at least 75 years and perhaps longer.

It doesn't matter; it is a great tool and I am blessed that it has showed up in my reality.

Yes, it will be a "night mala".  I can say from experience that a working night mala can have the most heathy effects on one's dreams and night travels into what the aborigines call the Dreamtime.

Those who are heading for their keyboards to blatt out a reminder of emptiness would do well to read the last gatha of the Diamond Sutra.  This reality may seem like a lightening flash or a bubble in a stream but, like it or not, it will always keep seeming.  We may as well have some fun with it.

Love to all,

Scott

[Joey]

Those who are heading for their keyboards to blatt out a reminder of emptiness would do well to read the last gatha of the Diamond Sutra.  This reality may seem like a lightening flash or a bubble in a stream but, like it or not, it will always keep seeming.  We may as well have some fun with it.

Love to all,

Scott

now there, play nice. we dont wanna upset people, do we?

[Scott Hutton]

Well of course I want to upset people now and again:  it wakes them up.

Oth, most of my yidams  and protectors are wrathful.  I'm not nice enough to hang out with the peaceful ones, but I do enjoy the Flaming Ones:  some sort of geriatric fiddadle, no doubt.

Did you know?  Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche was prancing and tight ass mincing  around like a well behaved monk...until...until...one day he had that hideous automobile accident which left his body never again the same.  He instantly saw the the Dharma Protectors were giving him a shove to get back on the Path, and to be the being he is/was.  Off came the robes; the rest is history.

I have come to regard even the stubbing of a toe, or a cooking burn, as the protectors giving one a shove.  A shove in the Dharma direction - the upset part is just a facet.

Being upset is not to be avoided - it is to be examined.

Scott

[silmaril]

The mala arrived today; it is I thought:  the "stones" (3 round pebble like concretions) look exactll like cremation relics that had come my way before.  I am happy with this mala, but I'm not sure what to do with it - perhaps it will be my "night" mala:  that is to say, I always sleep with at least one mala in my bed, and clock mantras whenever I am sleepless during the night.  Usually I say Padmasambhava's mantra but currently I am experiencing a great attraction to the Tsonkhapa mantra; the two seem to complement each other.

I was wrong about it being well worn rudraksha beads; it is well worn, and I mean well worn, bodhi beads and, I think, quite old.  It has a smoke aroma about it, an aroma I have only experienced from "real" Amerind medicine bags - leather cured properly in the Old Indian Way.  That was a surprise.  It's the smoke of cured ham, or leather, and quite pungent.

At any rate, I am virtually certain that the "stones" are cremation relics, a form of rilnag, but of course we will never identify the Being whose relics they are.  I have a sense that the mala goes back at least 75 years and perhaps longer.

It doesn't matter; it is a great tool and I am blessed that it has showed up in my reality.

Yes, it will be a "night mala".  I can say from experience that a working night mala can have the most heathy effects on one's dreams and night travels into what the aborigines call the Dreamtime.

Those who are heading for their keyboards to blatt out a reminder of emptiness would do well to read the last gatha of the Diamond Sutra.  This reality may seem like a lightening flash or a bubble in a stream but, like it or not, it will always keep seeming.  We may as well have some fun with it.

Love to all,

Scott

Are you pertaining to the three beads that act as spacer beads dividing the mala into 4 sections of 27 beads each? Wow! Relics...I guess that would stick to this thread's "Human Mala" topic. You said this was an eBay auction? If so, that means there's a link that may still have the picture! I'd love to see it!

You claim that you work in Manhattan - I work in the city myself! Small world! Must be karma.

[Scott Hutton]

Send a private email to [email protected] and I'll post a photo to you at once.  It's not a beautiful mala - actually, it's a tough old guy and I expect was well used for years by some other tough guy and I love that it smells like properly cured leather - leather smoked the way the Amerinds do it.

All this is reminding me of a kapala that was on my first lama's shrine:  a very simple kapala, about as simple as they get - simply a cranium bowl; that's all.  No carving, no mounting, no nothing.  Near it was the most extraordinary statue of Guru Rimpoche, primitive yet expressive.  My lama told me it was 9th Century and a gift from the Dalai Lama.  My lama, as I've probably written somewhere here, was the Dalai Lama's translator in the 50's and was with His Holiness when they fled Tibet.

My first lama was Nyingma; thus Guru Rimpoche, who is my Guru, Yidam and Dakini, though I'm currently finding Tsongkhapa a wonderful supplement.

A chela more senior than I confided that that bone had once been the cranium of a very highly realized Himalayan yogi.  That's why no one messed with it - it was holy already - there was no need to gussy up.

Scott

[goat]

Came across this topic in a backdoor way...sure would be nice to hear from you Scott..I know you are still kickin..might track u down hope all is well