Tingsha (Tingshaw, Dingsha, Dingshaw)

About Tingsha

Tingshas (tingshaw, dingsha) are a meditation bell in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Tingsha can be rung anytime one wants to achieve a calm and meditative state of mind. They can be rung to fix a moment or place in one's memory. Tingsha can be part of a home altar or shrine, or easily transported to use in a garden, yoga center, or other setting.

Bells have been used for centuries in many different cultures as a call to awareness. In traditional Buddhist ceremony, one use of the tingsha is to call the 'hungry ghosts'. By calling them and making an offering of food, incense or prayer, their suffering is diminished. In the Boddhisattva tradition, only when all suffering is eliminated can Enlightenment be achieved.

Our tingsha are made especially for us in the traditional manner by master Tibetan craftsmen now living in India. The tingsha are made in accordance with fair trade principles of a safe working environment and living wage. In addition, the bronze, which is a component of the bell metal, or li, from which the tingsha are made comes from 100+ year old broken bronze pots from Pakistan and Assam. This is both good for the environment and for sound, as the quality of the recycled old bronze is superior to newer bronze and recycling saves mining for new metals. To the bronze (an alloy of copper, tin, zinc and other trace elements) is added silver, gold, iron, and a special copper to add strength and beauty to the tingsha.

All tingsha come with an information card. An optional brocade carrying case is also available.