Akapala (Sanskrit for "skull") is askull cup used as a ritual implement (bowl) in bothBuddhismTantra andTibetan Buddhist Tantra (Vajrayana). Especially in Tibetan Buddhism, kapalas are often carved or elaborately mounted with precious metals and jewels.
| Part ofa series on |
| Tibetan Buddhism |
|---|
 |
|
Institutional roles |
History and overview |
'Kapala' (Tibetan:ཀ་པ་ལ་,Wylie:kapala) is aloan word into Tibetan from Sanskritkapāla (Devanagari: कपाल) referring to the skull or forehead, usually of a human. By association, it refers to the ritual skullcup fashioned out of a human cranium. The Sanskrit word, in turn, was derived from Proto Indo-Aryan *kapā́las, and descended fromProto-Indo-European *káp-ōl- (cup, bowl), from *kap- (to seize, to hold).[citation needed]
Kapalas are used mainly for esoteric purposes such as rituals. Among the rituals using kapalas are higher tantric meditation to achieve a transcendental state of mind within the shortest possible time; libation to gods and deities to win their favor.[citation needed]
Hindu deities that may be depicted with the kapala includeDurga,Kālī andShiva, especially in hisBhairava form. EvenGanesha, when adopted into Tibetan Buddhism as MaharaktaGanapati, is shown with a kapala filled with blood.
Some of the Hindu deities pictured thus are:
The Kāpālika tradition was aTantric, non-Puranic form ofShaivism inIndia.[1][2] The word is derived fromkapāla, meaning "skull", andKāpālika means the "skull-men". The Kāpālikas were an extinct sect of Shaivite ascetics devoted to theHindu godShiva dating back to the 8th century CE, which traditionally carried a skull-topped trident (khatvanga) and an emptyskull as a begging bowl.[1][2]
In Tibetan monasteries a kapala is used symbolically to hold bread or dough cakes,torma, and wine instead of blood and flesh as offerings to wrathful deities, such as the ferociousDharmapāla ("defender of the faith"). The dough cakes are shaped to resemble human eyes, ears and tongues. Thekapala is made in the form of a skull, specially collected and prepared. It is elaborately anointed and consecrated before use. The cup is also elaborately decorated and kept in a triangular pedestal. The heavily embossed cup is usually made ofsilver-gilt bronze with lid shaped like a skull and with a handle made in the form of a thunderbolt.[3]
Many of the deities ofVajrayana, includingmahasiddhas,dakinis anddharmapalas, are depicted as carrying the kapala, usually in their left hand. Some deities such as the HinduChinnamasta and the related BuddhistVajrayogini are depicted as drinking blood from the kapala.[4] The kapala itself is a symbol of wisdom (prajna) and knowledge. In the inner-level or subtle-body practices of Buddhist Tantra, the underside of the skull contains the moon drops, which are melted bytummo or inner heat yoga, creating a cooling sensation of bliss as the drops move through the inner channels.[5]
As many Vajrayana empowerments such as the vase empowerment are also performed by touching the top of the head, the kapala also represents the transmission of knowledge from the Tantric guru to disciple, known as lineage transmission.[6] As blood was associated with hell-beings and was considered to be one of the most polluting substances in the Indian Vedas, the drinking of blood was an esoteric symbol for non-discrimination.[7] As wisdom transforms allduhkha into emptiness (sunyata), a yogi who has accomplished thesiddhi of non-discriminatory awareness has broken through all illusions of duality, of purity and impurity (all constructed realities), and most importantly, nirvana and samsara.[8]
The ability to break through the duality of nirvana and samsara results in the union of emptiness and bliss, which is the highest expression of enlightenment in Vajrayana Buddhism.[9] In this way, the image of the dakini who not only drinks but takes pleasure and delight from consuming the blood in the kapala is a powerful symbol of a yogi who has perfected theparamita of prajna, and who dwells in the reality of non-dualism.[citation needed]
The kapala is one of several charnel ground implements made from human bone found by tantrics at sky burial sites.
The charnel ground, an ancient Tibetan burial custom, is distinctly different from the customs of graveyards and cremation, but all three of them have been a part of the home ground oftantric practitioners’ such as the yogis and yoginis, Shaiva Kapalikas and Aghoris, shamans and sadhus. The charnel ground, often referred to as "sky burial" by Western sources, is an area demarcated specifically in Tibet, defined by the Tibetan word Jhator (literal meaning is ’giving alms to the birds’), a way of exposing the corpse to nature, where human bodies are disposed as it were or in a chopped (chopped after the rituals) condition in the open ground as a ritual that has great religious meaning of the ascent of the mind to be reincarnated into another circle of life.
Such a practice results in finding human bones, half or whole skeletons, more or less putrefying corpses and disattached limbs lying scattered around. Items made from human skulls or bones are found in the sky burial grounds by theSadhus and Yogins of the tantric cult. The charnel grounds are also known by the epithets the "field of death" or the "valley of corpses". In Tibet, a class distinction in the burial practices is also noted. The dead High Lamas are buried inStupas or cremated but the dead commoners are disposed of in the Charnel ground or in a Sky burial.[10][11]
The products from the charnel ground are the charnel ground ornaments such as the i) Crown of five skulls, ii) Bone necklace, iii) Bone armlets, iv) Bone bracelets, v) Bone skirt and vi) Bone anklets which decorate many images of dakinis, yoginis, dharmapalas and a few other deities (as may be seen in some of the pictures and stone images depicted in the gallery here), and other products such as the Bone trumpet, the Skull cup and Skull drum used by the tantric practitioners. Kapala or the skull cup is thus a produce from the Charnel ground.[12]
Media related toKapala (ritual cup) at Wikimedia Commons