The awe and fascination with which Tibetans regard the etched agate beads they call “dZi” must be something similar to ancient man’s obsession with beads, which has been revealed in the beautiful specimens that have survived from antiquity. That beads played an important part in the religious, social, and economic spheres of the ancient world is well known. DZi beads occupy a similar place in Tibetan cultural life to this day. Their ancient pattern of beliefs still persists in the refugee communities of Tibetans in Nepal and India. It is this very rootedness in Tibetan culture that makes dZi beads so difficult to research. Very few examples of dZi beads have found their ways to the West due to the high value Tibetans place on them and their reluctance to sell them except for very high sums. A few examples of dZi beads found their way to the West due to the high quality have been brought by Tibetan refugees themselves and acquaintance by the authors with some of these beads whetted an appetite for more information. Further opportunities for study came during two trips to India and Nepal, in 1978 and 1979. Field technique was as follows: It was made known in the Tibetan communities visited that the authors were interested in purchasing dZi beads.

Gems and precious metals also constitute a vital ingredient in making of Tibetan traditional medicines. The reddish-brown pearl is considered the most effective of all the organic and metallic drugs - medicines containing pearls are said to cure brain diseases and extract poison. The cool nature of turquoise is believed to help liver ailments and blood pressure and is said to possess a detoxifying quality. Gold is believed to prevent poison from affecting the organs of the body by causing it to slide down like water poured on a flower petal. Silver is supposed to dry and stop the flow of blood and pus, coral is used for fevers, sapphire for leprosy and extracting poison from the system. Coral is said to help migraine, brain disorders, fainting spells and seizures.

Precious pills, which contain most of these ingredients, also play an important part in curing many physical disorders. The Rinchen Ratna Samphel, (the Precious Wish Fulfilling Jewel), is compared to a precious jewel from the king of medicines. It contains over 100 different ingredients including Ngochu Tsothel, (a preparation of purified mercury, sulphur and sixteen different metals and minerals developed by the thirteenth century Tibetan scholar. Khedup Ugen Rinchen Pal), as well as seventy other ingredients such as purified gold, silver, copper, iron, lead and lode-stone. More notably the pill contains such gems as coral, turquoise, pearls, lapis lazuli and dZi. The precious jewels are detoxified and then ground into a very fine powder to be mixed with a number of other organic and mineral materials.

It is believed that dZi originated from a mountain near Rudok. In ancient times, they were said to flow down its slopes like streams. One day, however, a wicked woman ;cast the evil eye’ on the mountain and the flow immediately stopped. And to this day, so the legend claims, the characteristic black and white stripes of the dZi are still seen where the dZi once issued. The ‘insect’ theory of the origin of dZi seems to be very widespread and is cited to explain various peculiarities. This, the Tibetan claim, is why sometimes a great number of dZi are found forming a kind of ‘nest’. Some believe that even after the beads have been unearthed, some will continue to move about for a little while. In any case, to the Tibetan, the dZi is not man-made bead, but a precious jewel of supernatural origin.

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