Bone apron (sanmudras)

Ritual Implements of Bone
One element in the development of Tibetan Buddhism was the spiritual discipline of ascetics, who wandered the funeral grounds of ancient India practicing meditation. To this day, ritual implements made from human bone are a distinctive feature of Tibetan Buddhism.
To Buddhists, human bone is a reminder that life is brief and death inevitable. Bones have other symbolic dimensions as well. Tibetans see the skull as a natural container. Unshaped by human hands, it represents the fundamental goodness that is the natural condition of the mind. Bone trumpets call fearsome supernatural entities. Aprons of bone beads are counted among the funerary “dancing clothes” that signify a yogin’s heroic victory over life and death.

Bone implements are also portrayed in painting and sculpture. In this gallery the goddess Palden Lhamo holds a skull bowl, and Chakrasamvara and his consort as well as the adept Virupa wear bone aprons.