User:Owlmonkey/Torma

Article is now online at Torma.

My Notes

 * Beer, Robert (2003) The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols ISBN 1932476032
 * pages 212-220: the most comprehensive summary of tormas with pictures. really the best resource!
 * "sacrificial cake". often using colorful motifs. deriving from the ancient indian offering forms
 * tibetan word comes from root gtor-ba which means to "cast away, break up, or scatter"
 * term implies giving away without attachment
 * three types of tormas: offering, food, and deity. offering is for mundane rituals like pacifying, increasing, or eliminating obstructions. food tormas are used in feast practices and eaten by participants with leftovers offered to lower beings. deity tormas represent deities on the shrine and very from the simple like for Tara to very complex for semi-wrathful deities like Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara. Tormas may also be used in medicine, where the illness is drawn from the sufferer into the torma which is then cast away.
 * mainly just flour, butter, and water. but based on the need or representation it may have other ingredients, from sweets to meats.
 * related: the thread-cross / two wooden sticks with color threads arranged in a diamond shape around the form.
 * offerings to wrathful deities and protectors use a different form, and the torma is set atop a skull cup. the torma is shaped into various body parts like a heart and eyes and a hand to represent different sense perceptions. yikes.


 * Kongtrul, Jamgon and Padmasambhava. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang (1998) Light of Wisdom: A Collection of Padmasambhava's Advice to the Dakini Yeshe Rangjung Yeshe Publications, ISBN 9627341339
 * page 128-129 - torma is offered to remove all obstacles and perfect the two accumulations [merit and wisdom]. It's common to both Sarma and Nyingma schools. Torma should always be given at breaks between sessions, after yoga, and also inner torma [of visualization practice] at dusk. The term torma has bala at its root meaning to 'develop the strength' of the five aggregates and four elements.
 * tormas are made "from the choicest types of edibles heaped upon a vessel of precious substances or in the padma bhanja [authentic skull]". It is also of a particular shape depending upon the practice or tradition.
 * continued - four kinds of torma:
 * outer - physical offerings
 * inner - the body
 * secret - of bodhichitta
 * innermost - of thatness [suchness]
 * page 132 - in feast practice, leftovers are collected into an 'unclean torma' (wilie: dme gtor) and sprinkled with nectar before being offered to protectors who are under residual samaya.
 * page 199
 * the sanskrit word for torma is balingta
 * different torma types:
 * shrine torma (wilie: rten gtor) represents the shape of the deity and is kept on the shrine as long as it lasts
 * perpetual torma (wilie: rtag gtor) is either a:
 * sadhana torma (wilie: sgrub gtor) aka offering torma (wilie: mchod gtor) is presented to the deity
 * mending torma (wilie: skang gtor) is offered in feasts
 * daily torma (wilie: rgyun gtor) aka session torma (wilie: thun gtor) is an occasional torma, given after special occasions
 * captured torma (wilie: gta' gtor) is kept until some activity is completed in order to speed the completion


 * Padmasambhava. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang (2004) Dzogchen Essentials: The Path that Clarifies Confusion Rangjung Yeshe Publications, ISBN 9627341533
 * pages 245-246
 * gek = obstructing forces, gektor is torma offered for those. gektor can be used in peaceful, wrathful, and insistent ways.
 * torma may be used both as an offering to peaceful forces and also as a way to expel obstructive forces
 * torma when offered to a deity "represents the five pleasurable sense objects: beautiful form, melodious sound, sweet fragrance, delicious taste, and soft pleasurable touch." and by offering one satisfies the deities and one imagines to have received permission to practice in that mandala.


 * Kongtrul, Jamgon. Translated by Sarah Harding. Creation & Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation p. 172 ISBN 0861713125
 * page 172 - "Torma (wilie: gtor ma, sanskrit: bali) are sculptures with specific shapes and colors made from flour and decorated with butter that are made for offering during ceremonies or for representing the deities."


 * Tulku, Gomo (1998) Becoming a Child of the Buddhas: A Simple Clarification of the Root Verses ISBN 0861711394
 * pages 37-38
 * as a way of relating to negative situations and suffering, offer tormas to bring the unfavorable conditions of life to path of enlightenment. specifically, offer tormas to elemental spirits who belong to the hungry ghost realm and others. give spirit-tormas to harmful beings, spirits, hinderers, and elemental spirits while saying while saying, "Because you help me train my mind you are very kind. Please once again give the unwanted sufferings of all beings, my former mothers." then offer tormas to the dharma protectors.


 * Wilson, Martin (1996) In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress ISBN 0861711092
 * p. 336 - the Indian bali offering cakes were flat, and those evolved into the canonical Tibetan torma shapes


 * Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang (2004) Crystal Clear: Practical Advice for Mahamudra Meditators ISBN 9627341517
 * p. 171 - an implement used in tantric practice, which can also refer to food offered to Protectors and unfortunate spirits.

Quotes
"Votive offerings consisting of conical cakes made of dough and butter. They can be mounted on casts made of leather frames of elaborate design. They are ceremonially cast out at festivals since they are supposed to be the repository of all evils. The most elaborate are made for the Monlam Torgya on the 24the day of the first month of the year when they are mounted on frames made of leather." 

"An offering cake used in tantric rituals. In Tibet, tormas were usually made of tsampa, but other edibles such as biscuits and so forth will suffice." also tsampa (Roasted barley flour; a Tibetan staple food.) from same page and tsok (Literally, gathering—a gathering of offering substances and a gathering of disciples to make the offering.)

"torma Figures made of dough and butter dyed in different colors, "shaped to symbolize deities and spirits as well as offerings to be presented to the deities invoked" (The Sherpas of Nepal, p. 175)."