Dharmapala Thangka CentreTibetan Antiques

This mould was used to make tsa tsas of the Buddha Amitayus [Tibetan: »Ce-dpag-med«]. Amitayus is a secondary form of the »Tathagata« [or »Dhyani«] Buddha Amitabha.. He is the Buddha of Infinite Life. In his hands clasped together in the meditation gesture [»dhyâna mudra«] he holds a water vessel [Sanskrit: »kala-sa«, Tibetan: »C´um bum-pa«. The vessel contains 'Amrta', which means both »nectar« and »immortality«.

The wooden head shows that the stamp has been in use for many years and that many tsa tsas have been made with it. Countless hammer blows have cracked the end of the head deformed.

The metal mod was worked into a large block of wood and hard wired into it. Today's Tsa Tsa stamps consist almost exclusively of a metal stamp and handle in a single mould [see last photo]. This form is subject to virtually no wear and tear, and has been in use since the end of the 19th century. Until then, tsa tsa stamps were mainly made of a solid block of wood into which the actual metal stamp was inserted [as in this example]. Over time, the bond between the wood and the metal wore away, and the wooden part of the stamp had to be replaced.

Today, it is extremely rare to find examples with a wooden handle. Similar stamps have been firmly integrated into existing museum and private collections of Tibetan Asian artefacts for several years. As a rule, museums do not sell anything from their collections. Sometimes they can still be found today in the liquidation of estates.