Amulets

The weaving of amulets is a symbolic practice associated with medical diagnosis.  An amulet may be made containing particular mantras, such as an elemental mantra or a protector mantra, or they may also contain herbs or medicine.

In the Aro tradition amulets are only woven in combinations of elemental colours—yellow, white, red, green and blue—or the colours of the the three primary channels – red, white and blue.

Amulets are usually quite small so that they can be worn without being an encumbrance, but we started by making fairly large ones—around 10cm square—to begin with.  The designs include eternal knots, mandalas and yung-drungs.  The yung-drung (Tibetan gYung drung – swastika in Sanskrit) is an ancient Buddhist symbol of increase or decrease, depending on the direction.  The red yung-drungs on the left are turning anti-clockwise in the direction of decrease, and the blue yung-drungs on yellow (e.g. bottom right) are turning clockwise in the direction of increase.  This is a particularly important symbol in connection with Ögyen Dzambala.