| In Sanskrit the phurba is called the kilaya or the kila, and | | | | existence, the desire realm, the form realm, and the |
| in Tibetan it is called the phurba, phurpa. The phurba is | | | | formless realm. |
| also called 'the magic dagger' and it is a ritual dagger | | | | There are usually designs carved on the top of |
| used in ceremonies. 'Phur' is translated from the | | | | phurpas. Some popular images are skull heads or |
| Sanskrit 'kila' and it means peg or nail. | | | | Buddha heads. Sometimes the Buddha heads come in |
| Padmasambhava is thought to have invented the | | | | threes to mirror the blade, so that each way the blade |
| phurba. Padmasambhava used the phurpa to | | | | is turned, there is always a Buddha's head facing you. |
| consecrate the ground when he established the | | | | Ganesh is also popular on phurbas, though mainly in |
| Samye monastery in the 8th century. The phurba is a | | | | Hinduism. |
| three-sided stake used in Buddhist rituals. Because | | | | The phurba is a symbol of stability, and it is often used |
| Tibet has always been a nomadic culture, the tent is | | | | during ceremonies. The phurba is often used by |
| an important part of Tibetan lives, and placing the tent | | | | Tantric practitioners. The phurba also holds demons in |
| pegs into the ground is always seen as making the | | | | place. Only those who are empowered to use the |
| ground into a sacrifice. The shape of the phurpa may | | | | phurpa may use it in these rituals. The phurba can be |
| have come from shape of the stake used to hold | | | | used to tether negative energies during ceremonies, or |
| down tents. | | | | as a stabilizer. The blade on a phurba is never sharp, it |
| The three-sided style of the phurba may also come | | | | is only used as a ritual dagger, never as an actual |
| from an ancient vedic tool used to pin down sacrifices. | | | | weapon. |
| The phurba has three segments on its blade. These | | | | The phurpa is also used by Dorje Phurba a.k.a. |
| energies are known as the 'three poisons.' The three | | | | Vajrakilaya, the wrathful form of Vajrapani (one of the |
| poisons are attachment, ignorance, and aversion or | | | | wrathful deities). Vajrakilaya is often seen holding the |
| fear. The three sides of the phurba also represent the | | | | phurba on Buddhist statues and thangkas (Buddhist |
| three spirit worlds, and the phurba itself represents the | | | | paintings). Vajrakilaya is a wrathful deity and a |
| axis of the three spirit worlds. The center of the | | | | remover of obstacles. Vajrakilaya's consort is Khorlo |
| phurba brings the three spirit worlds together. The | | | | Gyedunma, a manifestation of the Green Tara. |
| handle of the phurba represents 'wisdom', while the | | | | Phurpas are only to be used ritualistically by Shamans |
| blade represents 'method'. | | | | or those who have been taught how to correctly use |
| The phurba is often stabbed down into a bowl of rice | | | | a phurba in ceremonies. To use the phurba, |
| or other types of grains in Tibetan rituals. Phurbas can | | | | practitioners first meditate, then they recite the |
| be made from wood, bone, or metals such as copper | | | | sadhana of the phurba, and invite the deity to enter the |
| and brass. If more than one metal is used to make a | | | | phurba. They then stab the phurba into the ground, or |
| phurba, it is done in a combination of three or nine | | | | into a bowl of rice or grain, and imagine that the evil |
| metals. The numbers three and nine are both important | | | | spirits or negative energies are caught beneath the |
| numbers in Tibetan Buddhist ritual, three because it | | | | blade. Phurpas can also be used as decoration in |
| refers to the three worlds or the three realms of | | | | temples, meditation rooms, or as decoration in homes. |