Silver Portable Amulet

Such silver portable amulets are used by Buddhist monks and lay believers to hold Buddhist mantras or figures or other religious objects. Also known as "protective Wheels of the Law", they are worn around the neck and provide a compact form of protection for the body. They also serve in Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism as amulets for protection against disaster and are used to hold medicines, mantras and aids to meditation. This amulet has an encircling design of embossed lotus leaves, and in the centre a gilded bronze image of a deity. On the outside of the amulet is a figure of White Tara (Tibetan: sgrol-dkar) and on the inside incantations to White Tara or Sakyamuni, which are mostly mantras used to obtain the blessings, virtues and merits and karma of the deity and acquire the ultimate truth. The Buddha on the inside of this shrine is Sakyamuni.