Dorje – The Magic Thunderbolt Rod
Have you ever had a chance to work with a Dorje?
Dorje – The Magic Thunderbolt Rod of Hindu, Jain, Buddhism Traditions
“He who has found the Shining Jewel of the Enlightened Mind (bodhi-chita) within his own heart, can transmute his mortal existence into immortal, perceive infinity in the finite, and transform Samsara into Nirvana.”
The Dorje, also called a Vajra is a Sanskrit word for diamond or thunderbolt. It is used as a symbolic weapon or tool to help one destroy negative forces. The vajra can be held in one’s hand. It is used in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions. The Dorje or Vajra appears to be similar to the thunderbolt weapon carried by the Vedic God Indra, and the Olympian God Zeus.
The word Dorje (in Tibetan) is equivalent to vajra (in Sanskrit) and means weapon, ray, scepter, diamond. The hidden virtue of this instrument is to repel invisible evil influences and purify the air (like ozone in chemistry). The Dorje is the symbol of Divine Wisdom that annihilates all passions and leads us to the control of samsara existence (incarnations). It is the highest symbol of spiritual power to which nothing resists. Its preciousness, value, purity, and brilliance have equaled it to the diamond – which cuts any material and is not cut by any.
As a thunderbolt weapon, the Dorje destroys both internal and external enemies. The Dalai Lama has a title of “Owner of the Dorje,” because the staff has the power to dominate the fire of the sky and to emit healing rays. The Dorje is an artistic-archetypal representation of the ultimate spiritual dynamic, functioning as an active meditative component, a form-energy transceiver.
Dorje is often used in rituals of meditation and contemplation as a symbol of the union between the Relative Truth, represented by the experience of daily life, and the Absolute Truth, a state of being that lives in union with nature and with all that it surrounds it. On the other hand, when the Dorje and the Bell are used during meditation, the objective is to balance the male part with the feminine part of things, to achieve spiritual clarity.
At first sight, the Dorje is confused as a common souvenir because it looks like a scepter used by kings in medieval Europe. But the DORJE has another and different function and can be seen in the Buddhist temples right along with gongs, Singing bowls, and sacred prints. The Dorje is a metal piece (brass/iron alloy) in the shape of a rod with about 6 to 9 centimeters in lengths and two bulbs at the ends such as lotus buds – a symbol of spiritual purity.
For Tibetan Buddhists, the Dorje is a symbol of mastery of the mind and only the most learned of the Lamas, or initiated monks of the Kargyutpa sect possess their secret. The seat of the Kargyutpa sect is near Sikkim, and its symbol is formed by two cross-shaped DORJEs.
It is said that the Dorje radiates strange and luminous energy.
An ancient text of Mahayana Buddhism says: “After washing your Dorje with holy water, it will emit bright violet radiation.” Another Sacred manuscript quotes that during a Lamaism initiation ritual, the yellow and red robes of the monks in meditation are overshadowed by the intense bluish glow of the Dorje. They even say that Dorje helps a lama to levitate! But to prove this, we would have to be present.
The Tibetan tradition tells that several Dorjes fell from the sky. One of them in Darjeeling (DORJEeling = DORJE Place, in Tibetan).
Dorjes fallen from the sky remind us of “Ufos things.” Andrew Thomas, in his book “Shambhala,” suggests that the Dorje is an extraterrestrial artifact. “The Tibetan Folklore speaks of Lung-ta, a winged horse, a messenger of the gods, who traveled through the starry universe carrying a precious jewel – Chintamani (Sanskrit) or Norbu-Rinpoche (Tibetan) on the back where the one that distributed the Dorje over the world.” According to the author, Lung-ta can be an allegory to spacecraft that dropped several Dorje on our planet (Fantastic Realism).
The vital message of sacredness and purity, represented by the Dorje, doubles its power in the cases where it is rendered twice. The double Dorje, known as Vishvavajra and also used as a seal for closure or signature for essential documents, is often placed in the base of statues representing the main Tibetan and Indian divinities, and if worn serves as a warning to remember the absolute indestructible character of Knowledge.
Peter Kolossimo in his book “Eternal Earth” tells the story of two Russian scientists studying Tibetan scholarship at the Ganden Namgyeling Monastery. In 1959 they found texts on astronomy found that the Kalachakra culture already taught the heliocentric theory when Europe was still living in the ignorance of the Middle Ages! After much talk, the Chief Lama decided to reveal his knowledge of astronomy but insisted that the Russians underwent a severe regime of purification of their minds and bodies, which lasted a few days. After the “cleansing,” the Lama took the two Russians to a monastery cell and showed an “instrument” that began to whine. Then a luminous mist took the form of a celestial human being. Before that figure appeared a three-dimensional model of the Solar System formed by luminous spinning balls. The Russians were surprised to see that the model had ten planets and an unknown 11th in orbit of the Sun beyond Pluto. The beautiful, magical instrument was said to have been a Dorje.
In Tibetan illustrations we see several Buddhas meditating and holding a Dorje. Padmasambhava carries one in his right hand, and Sakya Muni has one on the floor near the legs crossed.
There is a type of bell whose handle is half Dorje and represents the method of compassion.
Each of the parts of the Dorje has a special meaning, in particular, the two spherical limbs, which in addition to representing Sunyata, the primordial structure of the universe, symbolize the two parts into which the brain is divided.
The three central circles, which act as the junction of the two limbs of the Dorje, represent the vast bliss that the Buddha reaches spontaneously, without effort.
At the extremities of the two Lotus Flowers, there are three circles, symbol of the six paths that lead to perfection: patience, generosity, discipline, commitment, meditation, and wisdom.
The Dorje is symmetrical. A kind of sphere in the center separates the two parts. The ball (or cable) represents the seed of the Universe in undifferentiated form as “Bindu” (zero points, drop, the smallest unit). From the cable comes a spiral towards the ends (poles) of the Dorje which is represented by three rings, as well as chalices supporting the lotus flower (the polarity of conscious existence).
Each lotus has eight petals: the upper one symbolizes the eight Bodhisattvas and the lower one the eight goddesses. From each lotus are four “sea monster mouths” representing the freedom of cyclic existence. From these mouths converge rays (tongues) towards a strange rod.
The Kalachakra science originates from Shambhala, introduced in Tibet in 1026 by Somanatha, a Cashmere Brahmin who spread astronomy and esoteric astrology.
SOURCES: Andrew Thomas’s Shambhala; Blavatsky’s Esoteric Dictionary; Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism of Lama Anagarika Govinda; Milarepa, by W.Y.Evan Wentz; The Vajra and Bell and Beads of Cho Yang magazine – The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture (volume 1 no. 2, 1987).
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