I was in the mood yesterday to go outside and walk so I thought I’d go down to Mission San Juan Capistrano. As a result, I took a stroll around the local neighborhood: the area contains several interesting shops, antique stores, and restaurants, in addition to the old “Los Rios Historic District.” As it was a beautiful day, I popped in and out of several stores and also took in some of the old adobes – something that, believe it or not, I’ve never done before. I’m glad I did. In addition to the nice ocean breeze, it was a great day to just walk around. On my way back to my car, I decided to look in one of the antique shops, located just a few stores away from the mission. For the most part, the store was filled with all of the regular wares – old dishes, costume jewelry, etc, etc. Hidden near the back of the rather large store, I found a couple of very interesting booths – one contained very large Asian items (including a beautiful set of Chinese temple bells [offered at $4,000] – which, obviously, I can’t afford) and another booth that contained a display case with some unusual items. One of those items happened to be a very large phurba (which they had marked as a “Tibetan Scepter” [actually, that’s not a bad description]). As the proud owner of a couple of other phurbas (they’re really used as a shamanistic tool of protection and to perform many other religious functions by Tibetan monks), I was very impressed by the size of the one displayed. In fact, I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen a larger one! So, I decided to purchase it.
BTW, in case you’re wondering why I’m interested in such items, it’s due to the courses I’ve taken on sacred sound healing – a topic I first became interested a few years ago when I bought my first (of many) Himalayan singing bowls. As part of those courses, we were instructed in the use of phurbas (which are considered to be very, very powerful tools in the skilled hands of master shamans). Sadly, the instructor for those classes just passed away, very prematurely, due to cancer – she was a wonderful woman and I know that she is greatly missed by those who took her courses (she once told me that I was one of her favorite students). Needless to say, seeing this monster phurba, reminded me of her and I thought I’d add it to my rather small collection of sacred Tibetan objects. Based upon my own, limited knowledge of such items, I think I got a real “steal” – the phurba weighs in at nearly two and a half pounds and is seventeen inches long. As can be seen in the attached photo, it’s a real beauty.