Frankincense and Myrrh: A Tibetan Scent Expedition
Tibetan tradition applies a single term to both the Sala and the Boswellia tree. It is widely accepted that Kushinagar once abounded with numerous Sala trees, and classical literature refers to the site by various names—among them "the Sala Grove" (སཱ་ལའི་ཚལ་). Still, some hold the view that the trees there were actually Boswellia, specifically Boswellia serrata, which is native to South Asia.
འཇིག་རྟེན་ལྷ་རྣམས་རྩོག་གིས་མནོལ་གྱུར་ན། སྤོས་དཀར་ཤིང་སྣའི་དྲི་ཡིས་སངས་གྱུར་ཅིག། （……） གལ་ཏེ་ལྷ་རྣམས་ཀུན་མི་གཙང་རྩོག་གིས་མནོལ་གྱུར་ན། སྤོས་དཀར་གཡུ་ཤུག་དྲི་ཡིས་སངས་གྱུར་ཅིག། （……） གུ་གུལ་དཀར་ནག་དྲི་སྤོས་སྣ་ཚོགས་སོགས་ཀྱིས། ཕྱི་ནང་གསང་གསུམ་གྱི་མནོལ་གྲིབ་སེལ་བའི་རྫས། （......） ལུས་ལྷ་མི་གཙང་རྩོག་གིས་མནོལ་གྱུར་ན། གུ་གུལ་དཀར་ནག་དྲི་ཡིས་སངས་གྱུར་ཅིག། Should the worldly deities be tainted by filth, they are cleansed through the fragrance of frankincense. (...) Should the deities in their entirety be tainted by impurity, frankincense and cypress serve to purify them. (...) Substances such as white and black myrrh and various aromatic incenses are meant to dispel defilements of the outer, inner, and secret realms. (...) Should the body deities be tainted by filth, the scent of white and black myrrh purifies them.
(...) Black and white myrrh, together with other rare scents, wash away hidden impurities both within and without. (...) If the deities residing in the body are tainted, black and white myrrh restore their purity. From *The Purification Smoke Offering Text: Sacred Blue Water* (མནོལ་བསང་ལྷ་ཆབ་སྔོན་མོ།) Frankincense is frequently employed as a symbol of the feminine lineage and the pursuit of the Female Branch of the Jodé (Chöd) tradition.
In rituals aimed at exorcism and repelling negative forces, powders such as myrrh, frankincense, ephedra, and white mustard seeds are frequently employed. These powders are either burned together or individually, or are applied to ritual implements as an anointing substance. Separately, within the practices of the Bardo (Intermediate State) and the Chakras, certain descriptions and specific ceremonies use frankincense to embody the power of the feminine principle.
Merchants traveling across Eurasia spun fantastic yarns about the origins of frankincense and myrrh. These two magical treasures, which thrived along the ancient "Incense Route" (also known as the Spice Route), were applied to the dead in the belief that they guaranteed the soul's passage to the realm of light, and burning them was thought to forge a connection between the living and the divine. (The first two powders hold particular significance.)
Although less prominent than the previously mentioned agarwood, sandalwood, and musk, and less favored than spikenard and weeping cypress, these two substances still possess marked symbolic significance in particular aromatic contexts and cultural settings within the Tibetan aromatic system.
Frankincense and myrrh are credited with an extraordinary ability to clear away obstacles in both Tibetan literature and the folk traditions of the Arabian Peninsula's coastal areas. Within Tibetan medical and craft-related texts, particularly those dealing with incense and fragrance, frankincense trees are said to be watched over by colossal beings such as giant serpents and elephants, while myrrh is claimed to come from creatures like massive snakes and water buffaloes. These accounts from Tibetan sources closely correspond to Arabian coastal legends.
In Tibetan, frankincense is usually called སྤོས་དཀར་ ("pökar," meaning "white incense"), and myrrh is termed གུ་གུལ་ ("gugul," a term explained later), yet these labels are not fixed. In many manuscripts, the words for frankincense and myrrh may be used interchangeably.
In earlier writings on Tibetan treasures, I noted that classical artisans created a specialized craft called "imitation amber" using deep amber-colored frankincense resin combined with borneol. The resin itself can exhibit four distinct colors—white, yellow, red, and dark green—particularly after air exposure or a special incense refinement process. Because of this wide color variation, frankincense is believed to assist in achieving the four activities in Buddhism.
Frankincense can be sourced in Tibet through both land and sea routes. Within its category, the white and yellow varieties are regarded as the finest, prized for treating "yellow water" disorders (a concept in Tibetan medicine) and various external injuries. Its fragrance is gentle and non-irritating, often mingled with floral and herbal notes.
The sea route is typically tied to the dynasties of the Central Plains, especially the Song Dynasty, when frankincense gained considerably in prominence. By contrast, the land route either originates directly in Central Asia or was handed down through nomadic powers in North Asia. Tibet both sent frankincense to the Song and often received large volumes of it through maritime channels. In Tibetan customs, frankincense is commonly connected with feminine energy.
Among the aromatic substances tied to feminine forces—such as maternal deities and dakinis—are gentian (སྤང་རྒྱན་, especially the blue and white forms) and most types of Himalayan sweetspire (ཞུ་མཁན་) widely found in Tibet. Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092–1158) once compared it to "the warm fragrance of a mother's womb.
Blue Beryl Medical Thangka: Classification of Medicines" Early 20th Century, Men-Tsee-Khang Collection, Lhasa Detail: Myrrh In Tibet, myrrh is typically divided into black and white categories. The black kind, which usually has a dark yellow shade, is the one now commonly identified as Commiphora wightii, also known as guggul. When compared to frankincense, myrrh generally exhibits a stronger bitterness of a medicinal nature, and its scent, while mildly sharp, is rich and deep.
According to modern scholarly findings, the substance identified as white myrrh is actually the resin obtained from the Boswellia serrata tree (South Asian frankincense). As for the etymology, the Tibetan term for myrrh, གུ་གུལ་ (gugul), is derived from the Sanskrit word गुग्गुल (guggulu), whose meaning is 'myrrh like lamp oil is a sacred substance that wards off demonic adversaries.
In the classical period, classification may have drawn from indigenous South Asian accounts that grouped these two plants together. Those accounts stressed that both were trees feared by spirits, capable of clearing every hindrance caused by astrological disturbances and the venom of nagas (serpent deities). Burning them at cremations is believed to calm external disruptions, while crafting tools from them is thought to frighten malicious spirits.
According to the traditional Tibetan viewpoint, both white and black myrrh continue to be classified simply as myrrh, falling into the categories of resinous myrrh and natural myrrh. White myrrh is viewed as pure, often compared to "pearls coated in butter," while black myrrh, containing a greater amount of impurities, is characterized as "resembling something derived from animal dung." In medical practice, both forms are applied to the treatment of leprosy and external wounds. As the saying goes: Frankincense, the Tears of the Gods; Myrrh, the Dread of Demons. This article is a translation from Suolangwangqing's blog.