Description

Vajrakilaya is the wrathful yidam (personal meditation deity) who embodies the Buddha’s enlightened activity. Known as Dorje Phurba in Tibetan, Vajrakilaya is the Sanskrit name of this extremely popular deity of the Tibetan pantheon. Originally brought to Tibet in the 8th century by the great master Padmasambhava as part of the Kagye, Vajrakilaya has long since been assimilated into all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. This practice is justly famous for being the most powerful way to remove obstacles, destroy hostile forces and to purify spiritual and mental contamination.

These special rilbu (pills) were made by combining many different Vajrakilaya substances – all traditionally made by qualified lamas in Tibet, Nepal and India – including mendrup, dutsi, blessed pills and even a small amount of obstacle-destroying incense from the tradition of Dudjom Lingpa. Once the pills were made, they were dyed blue because Vajrakilaya is traditionally depicted in his dark blue form.

Finally, and most importantly, the pills were consecrated with more than one million Vajrakilaya mantras, performed as part of the ritual meditation practice known as a sadhana. In this type of practice one visualizes oneself as the deity and recites the mantra, all while maintaining the meditative absorption of samadhi. This practice is believed to imbue the pills with the ability to heal and remove obstacles for those who use them.

While the name Vajrakilaya/Dorje Phurba refers to the meditative deity (yidam), the word Kila/Kilaya/Phurba indicates a special kind of ritual dagger or nail. This implement is held in the hands of both the deity Vajrakilaya and the practitioners of his meditative system. More can be read about these special instruments here.

Each packet contains 3 pills which may be eaten, worn on the body, kept on a shrine or altar, placed in the mouth of a deceased person to ease his/her passage through the bardo (intermediate state) after death.

As with the other sacred items we offer, funds collected through offering these pills will be used to further the teachings of the Vajrayana both in Tibet and here in the West. We do this by supporting monastics and yogins on retreat, as well as building stupas, monasteries and retreat hermitages.