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Images of Earth and Water: The Tsa-Tsa Votive Tablets of Tibet

by Juan Li

Text and images © Juan Li and Asian Arts: not to be reproduced without permission
Production of Tsa-Tsas and Context

Left to right
High copper bronze tsa-tsa mould from central Tibet.

Large tsa-tsa of Avalokitesvara about 11.5 inches (29 cm) tall. This type was sometimes printed in large quantities to fill a room around a large prayer wheel or shrine. Collected in Nepal.

The empowerment scroll inserted at the base of Avalokitesvara tsatsa in previous image.

Left to right
Portable altar with hinged door. Notice the one with closed doors on the back. This piece may have been donated by a returning pilgrim. Photographed at Karsha Gompa in Zanskar, Ladakh.

Altar made from a set of uniform molds which may have been prepared together to function as a lineage mandala. Tibet.

Left to right
Removing the stamped tsa-tsa. The can in the foreground has oil for lubricating the metal mould after each pressing. This facilitates the removal of the tsa-tsa.

The finished product.

Carefully placing the tsa-tsa on a board to dry. Since the amount of sunlight in the mountains is limited the board is used to move the tsa-tsa around following the sun.

Left to right
A pilgrim presses funeral tsa-tsa at the stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu Nepal. The aluminum container in the foreground has seeds of barley for inserting into the stupas. Photographed in 1973.

Funeral tsa-tsa in broken stupa at Shey, Ladakh.

Tsa-tsa of different types left as offerings. The Buddha image has been submerged under the accumulated offerings. Photographed in 1977

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