Description

These are rituals for consecrating physical objects such as images, stūpas, ritual implements, places, an so forth. A consecration typically infuses an object with a sacred power, often involving a ceremony in which a deity is invited to reside within an object, rendering it suitable for use in a religious setting (for example, as an object to be worshipped).

Related Terms

rdzas gang rung sgrub pa'am byin gyis rlabs pa'i cho ga

Secondary Sources

Anonymous. "Consecration Ceremony of Ka-Gong Phursum Lhakhang in Kurjey, Bumthang by His Holiness Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche." Journal of Bhutan Studies 2, no. 1 (2000).

Bentor, Yael. Consecration of Images and Stūpas in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Leiden: Brill, 1996. 

---. "The Horseback Consecration Ritual." In Religions of Tibet in Practice, edited by Donald Lopez, 234-254. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.

---. "Interiorized Fire Rituals in India and Tibet." Journal of the American Oriental Society 120 (2000): 594-613.

---. "Literature on Consecration." In Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, edited by Roger Jackson, 290-311. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1996.

---. "On the Indian Origins of the Tibetan Practice of Depositing Relics and Dharanis in Stupas and Images." Journal of the American Oriental Society 115, no. 2 (1995): 248-261.

---. "On the Symbolism of the Mirror in Indo-Tibetan Consecration Rituals." Journal of Indian Philosophy 23, no. 1 (1995): 57-71.

---. "Sūtra-Style Consecration in Tibet and Its Importance for Understanding the Historical Development of the Indo-Tibetan Consecration Ritual for Stūpas and Images." In Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 5th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Narita 1989, edited by Shōren Ihara and Zuihō Yamaguchi, 1-12. Tokyo: Naritasan Shinshoji, 1992.

Gombrich, Richard F. "The Consecration of a Buddhist Image." The Journal of Asian Studies 26 (1966): 23-36.

Swearer, Donald K. "Consecrating the Buddha." In Buddhism in Practice, edited by Donald Lopez, 50-58. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

Wongmo, Chime. "Rituals of Bhutanese House Consecration." In Soundings in Tibetan Civilization: Proceedings of the 1982 Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies Held at Columbia University, edited by Barbara Aziz and Matthew Kapstein, 107-114. New Delhi: Manohar, 1985.