Amber vs. Beeswax: Treasures of the Tibet Series
The cover in 1992 showed a girl from the Kham region, decorated with ornaments of coral and amber.
Fragrant Crystal," also called "Grass Absorber"—terms referring to amber or beeswax—comes from Kashmir, the northern regions, the lakes of Ngari, and the land of Menyul. Some varieties are naturally fine, with a hue akin to Kashmiri saffron; others are watery white, while dark red and black ones are inferior. A concocted form, made by blending white fragrant substances with refined sugar, is considered the finest essence gathered from the outer oceans. In contrast, what is extracted from mud and polluted waters is deemed bad. Though it belongs to the class of aromatic substances, carrying it is said to offer protection against shadows or harmful influences.
Generally, amber can ward off negative energies and is used to treat stroke. The finest quality is that which has the hue of Kashmiri saffron or has absorbed the essence of the ocean; in contrast, amber colored like grayish-white water insects or black-red, as well as that originating from muddy or dirty waters, is considered lower grade. Additionally, counterfeit amber may be produced from camphor and frankincense.
In his work *A Summary of Methods for Analyzing Precious Substances* (རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བརྟག་ཐབས་མདོར་བསྡུས་གསལ་བ), Lama Longdol Ngawang Lobsang (ཀློང་རྡོལ་བླ་མ་; 1719-1794) records the saying, "Yellow amber produces milk, and red amber produces blood." This proverb was widespread in Tibet during the 19th century. Its beginnings can be traced through surviving texts to the biographies of two Nyingma scholars.
Ngawang Jampel (ངག་དབང་འཇམ་དཔལ་; 1810-1844), the seventh holder of the "Dorje Drag Rigdzin" (རྡོ་རྗེ་བྲག་རིག་འཛིན་) lineage, was orphaned in childhood and subsequently neglected by his relatives. One day, while suffering from a serious illness and having no breast milk, he went to a lake next to his family estate. This hereditary lineage forms a core part of Dorje Drag Monastery (རྡོ་རྗེ་བྲག་), which is one of the six principal monasteries of the Nyingma tradition.
The nagas—dragon-like beings living in the lake—gave the boy an amber stone the size of an old man's fist, telling him it would grant every wish he had. Although some accounts do not specify its color, in this version the amber was yellow.
Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje (མདོ་མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་; 1800-1866), as a child, could teach the Dharma to animals and plants. Likewise, for six years, the yellow amber produced milk whenever the boy needed it and guarded him from harm, until he was recognized as the "Dorje Drag Rigdzin." Shortly afterward, Yeshe Dorje, identified as the reincarnation of the tertön (treasure revealer) Jigme Lingpa (འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་; 1730-1798), was about to depart from his homeland in the Golok region.
The red amber, later venerated as a sacred relic, had been formed from blood tears shed by trees and the bodies of insects. Before leaving, Yeshe Dorje said farewell to the animals and plants. Some trees, loath to see the boy go, wept tears of blood so profusely that insects became enveloped in them. To spread the Dharma to all beings, the young master carried this red amber with him.
The modern understanding of this ancient treasure aligns with the notion that amber originates from lakes or from the blood tears of trees, apart from the religious undertones of these tales. Opaque amber is referred to as "beeswax," while transparent amber is known as "amber." A complete and independent system of amber ornamentation exists in Tibet.
Eastern European and Arab merchants traded Baltic amber to Kashmir, where it was combined with local red amber and imitation amber, and then transported through western Tibet into central Tibet. This route was one of three main pathways by which amber entered Tibet, as determined from the Tibetan classification of amber (or beeswax) origins and the widely accepted sources of amber today. While Tibet does produce its own amber, most of the high-quality material was imported from outside the region.
At Labrang Monastery, a trading crossroads for Mongolian, Tibetan, and Chinese merchants, vendors sold what was termed "Mongolian amber" (མོང་གོལ་སྤོས་ཤེལ) or "northern amber" (བྱང་གི་སྤོས་ཤེལ). Originating from Siberia, this amber was given by Mongolian nobles and local residents as tribute and gifts to Tibetan monasteries and households. An earlier article on Tashilhunpo Monastery referenced the Armenian merchant Hovhannes Joughayetsi, who traded amber in Tibet, a detail that Western explorers likewise recorded.
South and Southeast Asian merchants traded Myanmar's amber—which possesses the greatest diversity of amber varieties in the world—to Himalayan kingdoms such as Sikkim. In the 19th century, Sikkim enacted regulations governing this amber trade. When amber from these varied sources reached Tibet, its intricate symbolism developed within Tibetan culture, yielding two Tibetan names for the substance: "Fragrant Crystal" (སྤོས་ཤེལ) and "Grass Absorber" (སྦུར་ལེན).
Amber was traditionally considered a key aromatic substance in both the ancient Chinese and Arab worlds. When heated to obtain its oil, it gave off a scent resembling ambergris or pine resin, and this practice appears connected to the term "Fragrant Crystal." Across the wider Eurasian culture, amber's inherent aroma was thought to treat eye ailments and dental problems, and to ward off negative energies—a belief also present in classical Tibetan medicine.
The Sanskrit word Tṛṇagrāhin (तृणग्राहिन्), often applied to amber, combines tṛṇa (grass) and grāhin (grasping). The Tibetan phrase "Grass Absorber" (སྦུར་ལེན) appears to be linked to this South Asian terminology. Amber, therefore, represents a threefold unity of auspicious symbolism, curative qualities, and ornamental beauty.
The most common Tibetan term for amber, it should be noted, remains "Fragrant Crystal" (སྤོས་ཤེལ). Long before modern science, people from ancient Greece and Egypt to the Arab world and North Asia recognized amber's electrostatic properties, whereby it could "attract leaves and fine hairs." In South Asian medical writings and local poetry, that same trait is extended into a symbol of "attraction"—a quiet yet potent force that sways our reasoning and feelings.
The poetry of Püntsok Pelzang (ཕུན་ཚོགས་དཔལ་བཟང་; 1304–1377), a scholar of the Kadam tradition, likewise reflects the notion of amber's "attraction." Within his writings, the bond between desire and one's innate nature is compared to the unseen force exerted by the "Grass Absorber." Berthold Laufer, writing in his essay *Historical Notes on Amber in Asia*, observed: "The Tibetans and the Shan people seem to be the only two groups in Asia who have given amber a broader folkloric role.
Rendered from Suolangwangqing’s blog, this piece is titled “A Unique Amber Ornamentation System.”