Shaman's Sacred Phurba // Tibet Ca. 19th-20th Century

Considered a sacred dagger used to defeat the ignorance demon during tantric ceremonies, this Carved hardwood phurba with iron cover over the blade tip. depicts a carved tri-headed figure holding a phurba in his hands, with the tongue blade projecting from the mouth of a mythological head. Old weathered surface, early tar repaired chip on finial bun, otherwise intact. A good early example. Ca. 19th to early 20th century.

The phurba, or phurpa, is a three-sided stake that is used in Buddhist rituals. Buddhist Lama Padmasambhava is widely believed to have invented the phurba, and used it to consecrate the ground when he established the Samye monastery in the 8th century.

The three-sided style of the phurba comes from an ancient vedic tool used to pin down sacrifices. Its three segments represent the power of the phurba to transform negative energies. These energies are known as the 'three poisons'— attachment, ignorance, and aversion. The three sides of the phurba also represent the three spirit worlds, and the phurba itself represents the axis of the three spirit worlds. The phurba brings the three spirit worlds together. The handle of the phurba represents 'wisdom', while the blade represents 'method'.

The blade on a phurba is never sharp, and are only to be used ritualistically by Shamans or those who have been taught how to properly do so. To use the phurba, practitioners first meditate, then recite the sadhana of the phurba, and invite the deity to enter the phurba. They then stab the phurba into the ground, or into a bowl of rice or grain, and imagine that the evil spirits or negative energies are underneath the blade. Phurbas can also be used as decoration in homes and temples, and many use phurbas as part of their meditation rooms.