Bhutan has a tradition of wearing sungkü (སྲུང་སྐུད་) or protection cords, also known as sungdü (སྲུང་མདུད་), or protection knots. The blessed protection cords are believed to have been invested with spiritual power and are said to help protect the person who wears it from problems and misfortunes.

Materials and creation process

The protection cords are generally made from cotton, wool or silk threads, or narrow strips of cloth. Different colours represent different deities and rituals. The cords are normally a single colour, each of which is associated with a deity, such as red for Buddha Amitayus (the Buddha of Longevity), but some cords are constituted of threads of multiple colours. The colours represent the five transcendental wisdoms: enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities and activities. Alternately, they represent the four enlightened activities in Tantric Buddhism.

The most common knot resembles a vajra, which symbolizes the indestructible nature of ultimate reality. It also represents the innate power and essence of the enlightenment of the Buddhas. Some cords have one knot while others may have three, five, nine or as many as twenty-one knots.

Some cords are known as tsédü (ཚེ་མདུད་), life cords that are produced to help prolong a person’s life. It is distinguished by a particular kind of knot associated with long life, as some say the knot resembles the vase that contains the nectar of immortality, while others say the knot resembles the syllable Nriḥ (ཎྲི་), associated with the essence of the human life force. Knots may also represent power, prosperity or intelligence.

The scorpion knot in some rituals is associated with the practice of the wrathful guru practice in the Nyingma tradition. The scorpion knot represents an emanation of Guru Rinpoche that has the power to overcome non-human evil spirits such as gyalpo (རྒྱལ་པོ་), gongpo (གོང་པོ་), teurang (ཐེའུ་རང་) and damsi (དམ་སྲི་). During an empowerment ceremony, a thread of five colours representing the enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities and activities of the tantric master is used. In these cases, the cord is roughly the length of the recipient’s height, then folded into three and normally worn on the left arm.

The process of sacralization

After the threads are prepared with the relevant knots in the appropriate manner, a lama consecrates them by entering a meditative state of visualization and reciting mantras. The lama invites the relevant Buddhas or deities, invokes their blessings, and uses mantras to bless the cords. Using the power of his or her visualization, the lama causes the power of the Buddhas, deities and mantras to be dissolved inseparably into the cords in the form of sublime forms, letters, or rays of light, among other. The lama often blows directly on to the cords to inject them with power and blessings. Thus, the cords are also known as jakdü (ལྗགས་མདུད་) or tongue cords, because the honorific term for ‘mantra blown’ is jangak (ལྗགས་སྔགས་). The lama thereby forbids harmful spirits from harming those people wearing blessed cords who are under his or her protection.

The purpose of the protection cords

The main purpose of the blessed protection cords is to protect the body and life of the wearer from external mishaps, harmful forces (both human and non-human), and other problems such as illness and misfortune. The threads are invested with spiritual power, but to gain optimal benefit, one has to have faith in their efficacy and treat them respectfully. Most Bhutanese can tell a story of how a person was protected by such sungkü and collectively, Bhutanese give immense credit to their power. At the very least, the sungkü serves as a reminder of the Buddhas and their enlightened power for those who understand the presence of the Buddha’s energy in myriad forms.

Karma Phuntsho is the Director of Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of The History of Bhutan. The piece was initially published in Bhutan’s national newspaper Kuensel as part of a series called “Why We Do What We Do.”