This rare Bodhi Seed mala comes from the small village of Timal, about 5 hours southeast by car of Kathmandu in Nepal. I returned to practice at Yarinak cave while on Pilgrimage in 2024 This is the site in Timal, Nepal where Padmasambhava stayed and practiced. It was said Guru Rinpoche, on his journey back from Tibet, meditated there before moving to Pharping at Asura cave. Timal, Nepal is connected with Guru Rinpoche himself when he taught that Bodhi Seeds should be used for counting mantra. Additionally, it is said Padmasambhava defeated Tirthikas—sworn enemies of the Dharma near Yakinak cave. Afterwards he blessed the lands of this area.
Over time the Bodhi Trees and the seeds of Timal have become deeply connected to Guru Rinpoche. The Bodhi Seeds from this area are grown, harvested, and crafted into malas by the local people. One of the only ways to be for sure of the authenticity of a Timal Bodhi Seed mala, is to go directly to the source. One of the qualities of this kind of the mala is the slight variations in bead color, shape and size. This mala has a very "home-grown" feel to it. I was fortunate enough to return this year. See the last image of me at the gateway entering Timal.
This mala is one of the few I was able to hand pick while I was in Timal from a resident craft person. The beads are generally sized 10mm to 11mm side-to-side in width with an average size of 10.5mm. However, some beads are small than 10mm while some are a bit larger than 11mm. The height of each bead is about 11mm tall on average. The color is a deeper medium brown tone to a dark tone. The Bodhi Seeds have very little trimming on the sides and are very round.
The overall length is 22.00 inches or 55.88cm from the top to the bottom of the guru bead and 25.00 inches or 63.5cm to the bottom of the cords. This mala is strung using a single golden-yellow nylon cord which is tied off.
This mala has a rare matching 4-Eye Bodhi Seed guru bead sized 18mm with matching color tones for a beautiful complimenting appearance. This is an extremely rare, high caliber, and beautiful mala with a deep local connection to Guru Padmasambhava. Authentic Timal Bodhi Seed Malas of this smaller size seldomly come up for sale.
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