Tram-shing

There is no direct or generic translation of ‘Tram-shing’. It could be rendered: thaumaturgy stave; magical stake; sorcery baton; invocation stick; conjuring pallet; or demon flogging-board. It is one of the 28 Vajra weapons which relate to the 28 days of the lunar month - and thus to Rakshasa gZa’ Rahula (ra kSha gZa’ ra hu la / ར་ཀྴ་ས་གཟའ་ར་ཧུ་ལ་)

Every Vajrayana lineage has sets of vajra weapons which are held in the hands of wrathful awareness-beings (yid dam / ཡིད་དམ་ / ishta devata). The Tram-shing is engraved with khandro cyphers (mKha’ ‘gro yig / མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཡིག་). This is a weapon which, when displayed to the demonic mind-set, causes obstacles (bar chad / བར་ཆད) to offer themselves for symbolic flaggelation and transformation. This symbolic activity is accompanied by Ngak (sNgags / སྔགས་ / mantra) and visualisation through which practitioners rid themselves of Barchèd (bar chad / བར་ཆད་) obstacles.