Step into a Nyingma monastery and the first things to catch your eye are often not the statues but the implements: the phurba standing in a corner, the tiered torma on the offering table, the damaru drum in a lama's hand, the thangkas and masks covering the walls. These are not decoration — they are the materialization of the teachings. Each one corresponds to a view, a ritual, a path you can hold in your hand.

As the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyingma also has the most sprawling array of implements: both the basics shared across exoteric and esoteric practice, and objects uniquely tied to Dzogchen and Terma practice. This page begins with the most common ones, explaining what each is, what it is for, and why it takes the shape it does.

If the vajra is the shared symbol of Tibetan Buddhism, then the phurba (ཕུར་བ་, Phurba; Sanskrit *kīla*) is Nyingma's most distinctive mark.

Its form is unique: a three-edged blade at the base, a three-faced wrathful head (Vajrakīla) in the middle, and a handle at the top, often crowned with a horse head or half-vajra. It began as an Indian tent peg; in Vajrayāna it became the symbol of "pinning down" afflictions and obstacles.

Its inner meaning is threefold: pinning all obstacles and adverse conditions; piercing self-grasping and dualistic fixation; establishing the boundary of the practice maṇḍala. The Nyingma practice of Vajrakīla (Dorje Phurba) is among the most important annual rites of the monastery, believed to purify a year's obstacles.

This teaching is directly linked to Padmasambhava: legend has it that when he came to Tibet, it was precisely through the phurba practice that he subdued the local mountain deities, allowing Samye to be built. Nyingma therefore often calls the phurba "Guru Rinpoche's mudrā" — the token of this school's first bond with the land of Tibet.

The vajra (རྡོ་རྗེ་, Dorje) and the bell (དྲིལ་བུ་, Drilbu) appear in nearly every Vajrayāna practitioner's hands as a pair, together called the "vajra and bell."

The vajra represents skillful means (upāya) and compassion, as well as indestructible wisdom; the bell represents wisdom (prajñā), whose sound of emptiness awakens ignorance. Held left hand the bell, right hand the vajra, crossed at the chest — this is the most common posture of a Vajrayāna deity, silently proclaiming: compassion and wisdom cannot be separated, just as bell and vajra cannot.

The number of prongs matters: one prong signifies the one true dharmadhātu; three, the Three Jewels or body-speech-mind; five, the five wisdoms and five Buddhas; nine, the nine vehicles. Nyingma's phurba and wrathful-deity practices often use five- or nine-pronged vajras.

For the general reader, bell and vajra are not merely "implements" but a visible doctrine: the wisdom in your left hand must exert force together with the skillful means in your right.

In the icons of wrathful deities and protectors, two fearsome objects appear: the kapala (ཀ་པཱ་ལ་, skull cup) and the khatvāṅga (ཁ་ཊྭཱཾ་ག་, staff).

The kapala is an offering or eating vessel made from a human skull, holding amrita within. Its symbol is not terror but impermanence — the most direct, unavoidable impermanence. Vajrayāna uses it to remind the practitioner: death may come at any moment; clinging is useless. Nyingma wrathful deities such as Vajrakīla and Yamāntaka often hold the kapala at the left breast.

The khatvāṅga is a long staff topped sequentially with a dry skull, a fresh skull, a wet skull, and a crossed vajra — the mark of a yogī and wrathful deity. Padmasambhava is usually depicted holding it, signifying he has transcended life and death and freely masters all.

These objects are often misunderstood from outside. The key to understanding them is to read "terror" as "wakefulness": they do not worship death, but place death before the eyes so that one lives seriously.

The mala (ཕྲེང་བ་) is perhaps the best-known Buddhist implement. Its basic function is counting — one bead per recitation of a mantra, 108 beads per round.

In the Nyingma tradition, mala materials each carry meaning:

• Bodhi seed — most common, symbolizing the seed of awakening.
• Crystal, agate, lapis — for clarity and transparency, corresponding to the innate purity of mind.
• Sandalwood, agarwood — for their scent and firmness, suited to long sessions.
• Bone (usually yak bone or imitation) — a reminder of impermanence, common in wrathful-deity practice.

Nyingma malas are often rather large; a counterset (གྲངས་ཐག་) of ten small beads tallies the larger count. The 108 is usually explained as severing the 108 afflictions.

For daily practitioners, the mala may matter more than any implement: it turns the abstract act of "practice" into the concrete, countable motion of one bead after another in your hand. When you don't know what to do, pick up the mala and recite once — that is a beginning.

The torma (གཏོར་མ་, Terma) is an offering shaped from roasted barley flour and butter, ranging from a simple cone to an elaborate multi-tiered sculpture. It can be the temporary abode of a deity, an offering to a protector, or food given to spirits (གཏོར་བསྔོས་). In Nyingma's annual rites, torma-making is a specialized craft, often begun days ahead by trained monks in seclusion.

The maṇḍala (མཎྜལ་) is built from rice, gems, or a metal plate, layered into a model of Mount Meru and the four continents, offered to the buddhas. In preliminary practice, the practitioner wipes the maṇḍala plate, piles the rice, and recites — usually accumulating 100,000 times. Its inner meaning: offer the entire universe — including the portion you thought was yours — out.

One is food for spirits, the other a universe for the buddhas; seemingly opposite, yet the same act: loosen the fist you clutch.

The thangka (ཐང་ཀ་) is a scroll-format Buddhist painting. Nyingma's most common subjects:

• The Three Roots' Gurus — Śāntarakṣita, Padmasambhava, Trisong Detsen together, a visual announcement of Nyingma identity.
• The Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche — Padmasambhava's eight emanations (Ocean-born Vajra, Wrathful Vajra, Śākyamuni Lion, Loden Chökye, Nyima Özer, Dorje Drolö, Siṇha Nāda, Padmasambhava), corresponding to the eight circumstances of his taming of beings.
• The Refuge Tree (ཚོགས་ཞིང་) — the "lineage tree" gathering gurus, deities, ḍākinīs, and protectors in one image, for the practitioner's visualization.
• Vajrakīla and the Eight Herukas (བཀའ་བརྒྱད་) — Nyingma's distinctive deity system.

The mask of the cham dance is used in the monastery's ritual dance (འཆམ་, Cham); dancers wear wrathful or peaceful masks enacting the subjugation of demons. Nyingma's cham is mostly tied to Guru Rinpoche's biography and the phurba practice, held on the tenth of the lunar month or Guru Rinpoche's anniversaries.

Thangkas and masks turn abstract teachings into images the eye can remember. In an age before literacy, they were Tibet's textbooks.

For the general reader who wishes to keep one or two objects at home, a few points are worth noting:

Placement: Implements belong in a clean, high place — not with shoes, socks, or clutter; avoid stepping over or crossing them. Hang thangkas where dry and away from light, not in prolonged sun.

Material: Nyingma tradition does not especially stress preciousness, but "purity" and "suitability." A mala you use comfortably outweighs an expensive one left on a shelf.

Attitude: The object is a reminder, not an amulet. Its function is to make you think of the Dharma when you see it, not to replace your practice.

Discretion: Matters involving initiation, deity practice, and wrathful implements (such as the kapala) are best approached only after taking refuge with a qualified guru and receiving the corresponding initiation and instructions — that is the proper way. Practicing esoteric methods without initiation is explicitly discouraged in Nyingma.

The true value of an implement lies not in its material or age, but in whether at the moment you see it, it returns you to the person you wanted to become.

Q: May I keep a phurba at home?

A: Yes. In the Nyingma tradition the phurba is mainly used to dispel obstacles and protect the mandala; keeping one in an ordinary home is fine, preferably in a clean, elevated place. But if it is to serve as the support for a deity's practice, it is best to first receive the corresponding initiation.

Q: Must a mala have exactly 108 beads?

A: 108 is the most common size, but there are also shorter strands of 21, 27, or 54 beads for carrying easily. The count itself is not a hard rule; counting and gathering the mind are the aim.

Q: May I hang a thangka anywhere?

A: Yes. Hanging a thangka is a common way of invoking blessings in Tibet. Just keep it out of direct light and damp, and away from low or unclean places; if it depicts a wrathful deity or a union form, hang it outside the living quarters.

Q: Do ritual objects need consecration?

A: Traditionally, statues and thangkas become proper supports for offering only after ensouling and consecration; a mala and such objects need not. If conditions allow, having a monastery or a qualified lama bless them is of course better, but a sincere and reverent mind is more fundamental.

• Vajrakilaya (8557221604).jpg · Yurei Fukuro / CC BY 2.0
• Beijing 2009-1007.jpg · G41rn8 / CC BY-SA 4.0
• Vajrakila Guimet 26117.jpg · Vassil / Public domain