Dzi beads

Meaning

Dzi (gzi) beads are elongated agate beads with white patterns of 'eyes', stripes and waves. Tibetans believed they were insects or divine objects petrified and found in the earth, not made by humans.

Intent

They were worn for protection from the evil eye, lightning, illness and bad luck. The number of eyes carries meaning (nine-eyed dzi are most prized), and ground dzi was used in medicine.

Significance

Ancient dzi beads are among the most valuable beads in the world, some selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their manufacture used an ancient technique of etching agate with alkali paste, known in the Indus Valley.

History

Genuine old dzi were made perhaps between 500 BCE and 600 CE, possibly in the western Himalaya or Iran. Their origin is debated. Modern reproductions have been mass-produced since the late 20th century.

Making yours

3–6 cm elongated barrel of agate, etched with soda-alkali paste and fired to draw white designs on dark stone.

Tibet & the Himalaya: the tradition

Tibetan protection is inseparable from Vajrayana Buddhism: blessed images, printed mantras, pills made from relics and consecrated substances, and the ga'u box to carry them. Pre-Buddhist Bön beliefs survive in dzi beads and thokcha 'sky iron'. Protective printed charts (srung-'khor) and phurba daggers repel obstacles. Many amulets were made or blessed by famous lamas, and their value depends on the lineage of the blessing as much as the material.

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More from Tibet & the Himalaya: Thokcha (sky-iron) · Phurba & protective ritual objects
Every type in the gallery

Anything in the gallery can be made, by hand, in the prescribed metal or yours and, where the tradition names an hour, at that hour or with a plain note that it was not. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted first. I reply within one business day.