Skull cup (kapala)

Meditative and Magical Weaponry

Meditative equipment often takes the form of utilitarian tools, especially weapons. These tools  are laden with symbolic imagery created to enrich and empower the meditative process. The ritual stake, a tetrahedral-bladed dagger, pins down malevolent spirits. The skull cup and the flaying knife are often paired in a wrathful deity’s opposing hands. The blade of the knife is curved  to match the skull’s concavity. Like a mortar and pestle, these ritual tools are used to reduce all ordinary sense-based experience to its ultimate, empty nature, thus obliterating the negative thoughts and emotions that result from the false conception of an independent, substantial self.The quintessential ritual implement of Himalayan Buddhism is the vajra. Its name, meaning “lightning” or “diamond,” denotes the power, speed, and indestructibility of Tibetan Buddhist practice, known as the Vajrayana. In rituals, it is often paired with the bell. Whereas the vajra symbolizes the masculine aspect of the Vajrayana’s spiritual strategies, the bell represents the feminine aspect of its wisdom. Used together, they signify the union of the two, which leads to awakening.