A fine old "tse bum" or long life vase. This is a hand carved wooden tse bum with poly chrome finish. It exhibits the classic form of the traditional Tibetan long life vase, and is crowned with an elaborate carving of a dorje resting on a lotus.

Many of you may be familiar with the life vase from attending tantric Buddhist empowerments, where the lama almost certainly employed a long life vase of some sort during particular aspects of the initiation.

Of course the long life vase is also seen as part of the typical iconography of a number of important Tibetan Buddhist personages. For example, Amitayus, the Buddha of Boundless or Infinite Life - holds a long life vase like this in his lap. Guru Rinpoche also typically is shown with a long life vase resting in the skull cup in his left hand. Long life vases contain the nectar of immortality. The advantage of living longer is of course that you can do more practice, and benefit more sentient beings.

Tse Bum are an important component of Tibetan ritual, and though the basic form is always the same, there is interesting variation to be found on this common theme. Though long life vases are fairly rare in the West, they are a unique and very collectable category within the genre of ritual implements.