Tibetan Ting-Sha: Sacred Sound for Spiritual Growth

by Robert Beer

This beautiful gift package contains a pair of traditional hand cymbals, or ting-sha, and an illustrated book explaining their cultural origins and their place in Tibetan ceremony, plus a wealth of practical suggestions for their use in personal spiritual development.

Strike the hand cymbals together and a beautiful, clear, high note will rise from them to hang in the air and create an extraordinary stillness. The scintillating tone of the ting-sha instantly strikes a resonance within the human heart. Their purpose is to summon, and they call us to awareness, to remember who we are, and to recognize our priorities in this often turbulent and illusive world. The distinguishing feature of ting-sha is that they are cast from bell metal, an amalgam of five metals, which produce the enduring and harmonic resonance. When they are suspended horizontally and struck together, a delightful, oscillating wave of sound seems to pass between them as they reverberate at a high frequency, creating an impressive symphony of haunting sounds.

Genres: Spirituality

48 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Beer has studied and practiced Tibetan thangka painting for thirty years, including five years of study with master artists Jampa of Dharamsala and Khamtrül Rinpoche of Tashijong. Beer is one of the first Westerners to become actively involved in this art form. Over the last two decades he has concentrated on an extensive series of iconographical drawings depicting the major deities, lineage holders, and symbols that occur in the spectrum of Tibetan art.