Treasure vase
A round-bellied vase with a lid, one of the eight auspicious symbols. Its riches never run out: long life, wealth and the wealth of the teaching.
Meaning
The Tibetan Language Institute's guide calls it the vase of inexhaustible treasures, "a sign of the inexhaustible riches available in the Buddhist teachings". In Lama Zopa Rinpoche's translation of his teacher Trijang Dorje Chang's explanation, the vase brings "unceasingly all desired things, the fortune of a glorious life", and peace, which the translation glosses as liberation from samsara. The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco describes it as the elixir of life.
Origin and history
In the Tibetan story of the eight symbols as the gods' gifts to the Buddha after his enlightenment, told by Robert Beer, the vase came from the earth goddess Sthavara, who had witnessed the enlightenment. She brought a golden vase full of the nectar of immortality.
Vases in temples today
In Tibetan Buddhist temples, treasure vases filled with saffron water stand near the shrine offerings, and the water is used to purify them. Monasteries and Dharma centres also bury or store treasure vases at chosen places to bring wealth and harmony, according to the Tibetan Language Institute.
An older reading
In Alice Getty's book of 1914 the vase appears among the eight objects on a temple altar as the sacred bowl, or kalasa, "the treasury of all the desires".
Read next
- Next in Buddhist symbolsLotusThe lotus flower, one of the eight auspicious symbols. Rooted in mud but flowering clean above the water, it stands for the purity of the awakened mind.
- The same shape in Halloween symbolsGhostA ghost in a white sheet, the dead returned. At Halloween it recalls the Irish belief that the souls of the dead came home that night; the sheet is the churchyard ghost of English folklore.
See also
Dharmachakra, Ensō, Bodhi leaf, Triratna, Stupa, Parasol.
Sources
- The Eight Auspicious Symbols, Tibetan Language Institute, quoting Robert Beer, The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, Treasure Vase; introduction
- The Eight Auspicious Signs, Lama Zopa Rinpoche (translator), Mandala, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, no. 3
- Eight Auspicious Symbols (gallery text, illustration after Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings), Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
- The Eight Auspicious Symbols, Tibetan Monks’ Residency, Office of Cultural Affairs, Salisbury University
- The Gods of Northern Buddhism, Alice Getty, with an introduction by J. Deniker, 1914, Clarendon Press, Oxford (Internet Archive)
- The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism, L. Austine Waddell, 1895, W. H. Allen, London (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library copy)
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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