The Vajra Skull Chain Flail

The Vajra Skull Chain Flail (rDo rJe rGya dByag/ རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱ་དབྱུག) is one of the 28 items in the Aro gTérma assemblage of vajra weapons. The number 28 is associated with the lunar month — and this with Raksha gZa’ Rahula (ra kSha gZa’ ra hu la / ར་ཀྴ་གཟའ་ར་ཧུ་ལ་) This weapon (and the others) are being made with exemplary care and devotion to detail by Jennifer Shawe an Aro gTér student in Colorado. It is possible that this is the only such full-sized set in existence.

“There may be sets in some of the ancient Gönkhangs of Bhutan — and as such, will not have been photographed. We have however, never seen such full-sized weapons in the antiquities emporia of Bodhanath, Leh, Gangtok, Thimphu, Paro, or the Red Fort in Old Delhi — where much of what was pillaged in Tibet has appeared. We have moreover never seen such items in museums. We therefore have much to celebrate. This is possibly one reason why Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje gave the name Sang-ngak-chö-dzong —— Fortress of Secret Mantra (Vajrayana)”
―Ngak’chang Rinpoche