Torma (Skt: Balingta, Tib: Tor-ma, Wylie: gtor ma) are figures made mostly of flour and butter used in tantric rituals or as offerings in Tibetan Buddhism. They may be dyed in different colors, often with white or red for the main body of the torma. They are made in specific shapes based on their purpose, usually conical in form. A very large, central shrine torma may be constructed for festivals, though typically they are small and placed directly on a shrine, on a plate, mounted on leather[1] or held on a special base like a skull.[2]
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[hide]History[edit]
The tradition of using offering cakes pre-dates Tibetan Buddhism, though traditional Indian offering cakes — called bali[3][4] or balingha[5] in Sanskrit — are flat instead of conical.[6]
The Tibetan term comes from the root gtor-ba which means to "cast away, break up, or scatter". This implies both a sense of offering and of letting go or non-attachment.[7]
Variations[edit]
Tormas have different uses. Some are created and placed on shrines for ceremonies or to represent deities. Others are used in feast practice and consumed by practitioners during the practice. Others are made to appease spirits, accumulate merit, or remove obstacles.[8] They are mostly made of barley flour and butter, but traditionally other ingredients such as egg, milk, sugar, honey, and even meat may be included depending upon the purpose of the torma.[9]
Deity Tormas[edit]
Deity tormas (Wylie: rten gtor) are kept on the shrine, and represent a particular tantricdeity.[10] These tormas vary in complexity from a very simple cone painted white for peaceful deities like Tara and Avalokiteshvara, to very complex designs for semi-wrathful deities like Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara.[11]
Food Tormas[edit]
Food tormas (Wylie: skang gtor) are used in feast practices and are consumed partially by practitioners during the feast, with leftovers (Wylie: dme gtor) offered to lower beings after being blessed.[12] In some traditions, food tormas are now made with more contemporary ingredients whereas others stay faithful to the barley flour tradition.
Offering Tormas[edit]
Offering tormas may be made for and offered to deities (Wylie: sgrub gtor / mchod gtor), to Dharma Protectors, to obstructing spirits, or to other lower beings. Torma for obstructing spirits are called gektor.[10]
Medicinal Torma[edit]
A torma may be used in Tibetan medicine to extract an illness from a patient as a cure. The torma is then cast away.[13]
Captured Torma[edit]
A captured torma (Wylie: gta' gtor) may be used to speed completion of activities, by planning to offer the torma at the completion of the activity thereby encouraging successful activity.[5]
Inner, Secret and Very Secret Torma[edit]
Practicing meditation with deity visualization is considered a form of torma offering, though no physical cake is created and then offered. Similarly, offering one's internal emotional and mental experiences and experience of suchness are non-physical forms of torma offerings.[
Torma
Torma (gtor ma) are Tibetan ritual cakes used as offerings in Buddhist and Bon rites. Ritualized food offerings in Tibet likely had their origins in India, where food offerings called bali were an integral part of puja rites. Bali included many foodstuffs both raw and prepared, yet when this custom entered fresh-food scare Tibet the offering was made from the ever present barley grain (tsampa) and yak butter. Barley was already in use in Tibet in Bon ritual contexts, and the origins of torma in particular are claimed by both the Buddhist and the Bon traditions.
Torma are made by both monastics and laity. With clean hands, the flour and butter are shaped in a tower of sorts, sometimes directly mimicking the shape of a stupa, or the silhouette of a Buddha depiction, or the shape of Mount Meru. This original shape may have come about from the tradition of making stone heaps or cairns. The torma is covered with a coat of melted butter which is sometimes colored. It may then be decorated with flowers, precious stones, and other auspicious objects.
Shapes and the process of making torma became more complex as tantric rituals in Tibet complexified, and the color, shape, size of torma is determined by its purpose. White torma are generally associated with Tara and Avalokiteshvara, and red torma with wrathful deities such as Yamantaka and Hayagriya. Torma are sometimes elaborately decorated with a pantheon of symbols steeped in spiritual significance, such as a bell, which symbolizes wisdom.
The Tibetan word ‘torma’ has come to indicate not only ritual food cakes, but also indicates the Buddhist concepts of selflessness, impermanence and the Bodhisattva path. The act of making torma is considered to have spiritual, mind-purifying benefits.
Torma have many ritual functions. Torma offerings include codified rituals with particular mantras, meditation, mudras, and songs, and are often offered to the Buddha or Bodhisattvas. Torma are also used in rituals intending to produce practical results, such as a healing, exorcism, or rites for increased wealth. These torma are either broken up and scattered after the ritual (mchod pa bul ba) or consumed by the participants (dnos sgrub). Another type of torma is used in deity meditation, in which the torma is perceived either as the deity or the deity’s dwelling place.
Torma in the Tibetan Renaissance Period
No references to “torma” or “cake” were found in the Blue Annals, yet other Renaissance period sources mention the use of ritual torma. A story is told about the eleventh century teacher Zurpoche in which daily torma offerings are mentioned. Also, the hagiography of the eleventh-century monk Dzeng tells of selling bits of cloth in order to buy torma and food. Clearly torma were used ritually in Renaissance Tibet and were also valued as highly as food for sustenance. Exactly when the use of ritual cakes began in Tibet is unclear, and a topic for future research.
Bibliography
Butler, Claudia. “Torma: the Tibetan Ritual Cake.” Cho-yang. No.7 (1996): 38-52.
Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991). The volume is the source of the two Renaissnace period references to torma and is cited by Matthew Kapstein in The Tibetans.
Kapstein, Matthew. The Tibetans. Malden, MA: Blackwell Press (2006).
Kohn, Richard J. “An Offering of Torma.” Religions of Tibet in Practice, Lopez, Donald S., Jr., ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1997): 255-265.
Tibetan Himalayan Digital Library
Torma
Torma (Wyl. gtor ma; Skt. baliṃta) — a ritual cake, usually hand-moulded from butter andtsampa (roasted barley flour) and coloured with dyes, which can symbolize a deity, a mandala, an offering, or even a weapon.
More 'permanent' tormas can be made of clay or plasticine, to which small amounts of edible substances such as düdtsi are added when they are made. Tormas are usually ornamented with kargyen, 'white ornament', which are disc-like decorations of the sun and moon, four-petalled flowers, lotus bases and dissolving-point shapes known as nada.
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[hide]Origin
To trace back a particular practice or aspect of practice to the Buddha is a way to authenticate its origin, while showing that the lineage has remained uninterrupted since its inception helps give us confidence that the way we are practising today is still in accordance with the instructions of the Buddha.
The origin of the tormas we offer is described in the following account. Once, at the time of the Buddha Shakyamuni, as Ananda was practising the Dharma in the forest near the city ofKapilavastu, a frightening preta spitting fire through his mouth appeared in front of him. He told Ananda, “You have only seven days left to live, at the end of which I will eat you.” Ananda, extremely scared, ran to the Buddha and told him what had just happened. The Bhagavanreplied, “Make a torma of infinite magnificence, bless it with mantra, and offer it. This will liberate you from the fear of untimely death and lead you to accomplish infinite qualities.”
Transmission Lineage
The practice of offering torma has been transmitted through many lineages, but one particular lineage is as follows: Ananda transmitted toNanda, and Nanda to the bhikshuni Rati. Several arhats received it from her and then passed it on to the yogin Antavajra, and the sages of Bodhgaya. Then it passed to Dharmamati, Atisha, Dromtönpa who, in turn, transmitted it to the Three Brothers (his three principal disciples—Potowa, Chengawa and Phuchungwa). This is how the lineage was transmitted progressively to Tibet, the Land of Snows.
The Essence of Torma
The essence of the torma is the dharmadhatu, which is the utterly pure nature of the world, and the wisdom of rigpa, the completely pure nature of the sentient beings inhabiting the world—it is the indivisible union of emptiness (the object) and wisdom (the subject).
Even though there are several categories of tormas (such as outer, inner, secret, dhyana, illustrative) here we are mainly discussing the first, the outer torma.
Meaning of the Word
As for the term ‘torma’, Guru Padmasambhava said:
- ‘tor’ means to give without attachment, and
- ‘ma’ means completely present.
So ‘tor’ refers to giving without any attachment or grasping in the mind, and ‘ma’ to when what is given is completely present to the perception of the guests.
And who are those guests? In a nutshell they are those who are higher than us and to whom we offer, and those who are lower than us and to whom we give. To divide those two groups slightly, there are four categories:
- the guests invited out of respect, the Three Jewels,
- the guests invited for their qualities, the glorious deities,
- the guests invited out of compassion, the beings of the six realms, and
- the guests who are harmful spirits (Tib. dön), obstacle makers (Tib. gek) and our karmic creditors.
Further Reading
- Padmasambhava and Jamgön Kongtrül, The Light of Wisdom, Vol II, translated by Erik Pema Kunsang (Boudhanath, Hong Kong & Esby: Rangjung Yeshe, 1998), pages 128-129 & 199-200.
Category:
While practicing in the three-year retreat at Gampo Abbey several years ago I learned to make tormas. I’d been making tormas for a number of years, but finally got comprehensive training, and plenty of practice in that rather long retreat.
Shalzey tormas (Skt. naividya bali) intended for a personal shrine are usually between 4 and 6 inches high, but they can be any size. It takes a large snowball-sized ball of dough to make one that is in the small range with a three-inch diameter base.
Since the bala or torma is intended for a deity, we take care to keep its ingredients pure, and the surface on which we are working clean. The hands must be washed and the maker should avoid breathing on the project. Any bits that fall to the floor are unusable and must be discarded.
The ingredients to make sixteen six-inch tormas are as follows. A five-pound bag of flour without yeast, one cup of butter or shortening (it can be colored with food dye), and a large pot one-third full of water. First, bring the water to boil. Next, add the butter. Then add flour. Stir and let boil for three to five minutes.
Mix, then let it sit to cool a little. It should be just sticky enough to be easily kneaded.
The dough (which may still be hot -- be careful) is removed from the pot and placed on the clean surface where it is kneaded until it is uniformly soft and smooth. (If it sticks too much, dust your hands and/or the surface with flour.)
Tsa-tsa
On Torma Offering
3 CommentsMarch 15, 2009 – 7:28 am | Permalink |
While practicing in the three-year retreat at Gampo Abbey several years ago I learned to make tormas. I’d been making tormas for a number of years, but finally got comprehensive training, and plenty of practice in that rather long retreat.
It may be of interest to know that the Tibetan word torma has two parts. The first syllable, tor, is a verb that means to throw out: tormas made of barley flour, butter and other ingredients are literally placed outside as a gesture of making offering—a gesture of generosity. In an inner sense, the notion of throwing out can be understood as severing attachment to desirable things. That is, cutting through entrapment in desire. It may also be thought of as throwing out kleshas—severance of conditioned emotional reactions that cause suffering. Sincerely offering like this can purify the emotions.
The second syllable, ma, is a feminine ending. It evokes the maternal, a nurturing quality. Understanding the true meaning of this simple syllable is a means of cultivating loving kindness for all beings much as a mother feels love for her children. So, in a way, with the first syllable one severs attachment to self-centeredness. Having cut that, with the second syllable one radiates love and sympathy to others. This is the inner sense of offering torma. As you can see, torma is extremely rich with meaning.
In retreat we learned our torma-making mainly from two teachers, Lama Tashi Thondup and Lama Karma Phuntsok. These lamas were trained at Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, seat of His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa, and Sherap Ling, the seat of His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche in northern India, respectively. I found that both of these lamas had great precision and skill. (I believe they had been making tormas since they were children.) While their tormas were different from each other, each lama was consistently representing the way he was trained and, it seemed, representing the traits of uniformity and a lack of individual creativity embraced by monastic Tibetans.
This really struck me. Coming from a western tradition of valuing creativity, artistic expression and individuality, I realized that I had some unlearning to do. I had never really questioned the values of individual expression. This was a deeply ingrained outlook. I had difficulty measuring up to the standards of uniformity that came so naturally to these Tibetan guys. Still, I had to make tormas that were… well, correct.
I tried to understand the deeper logic of making offerings and the symbolic meaning of tormas. The tradition is important to preserve even while the tradition undergoes a process of transformation. That seems contradictory, but any time Buddhism moves to a new culture, it morphs: the outer aspects naturally change while the core understanding remains. This is the sign of a living tradition and was a principle that my root teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, always stressed. In my thinking, torma-making became a metaphor for Dharma in the West.
In making tormas, I work with that idea all the time. The basic shapes are often inspired by the Rumtek style of Lama Tashi. The vivid colors and some of the ornaments are closer to Lama Phontsok’s Sherap Ling style. I take a few liberties with some of it, based on what I find appealing, without changing the fundamentals. The result is what you’ll see on my website. Take a look.
Torma
Tormas (Skt.: bali) are offering cakes. They symbolize the food offering. Originally made of dough (in Tibet, roasted barley flour is used,) and also sculpted from butter, they have evolved into elaborately decorated objects. Since making them is time-consuming, people have begun to use clay, wood and more recently, synthetic substances. These include resin modeling products, and at least one Asian company produces small, injection-moulded plastic tormas.
Symbolic offerings at one time (pre-Buddhism, naturally,) may have been substitutes for living beings. However, the Tibetan word, spelled gtor.ma, has an etymology that is especially revealing. Lama Tashi Dondrup once explained that the word, composed of two parts, stands for "something that is thrown out" + "mother" (a signifier that is female.) The implication is one of cutting of attachment combined with care and generosity without limitation.
Symbolic offerings at one time (pre-Buddhism, naturally,) may have been substitutes for living beings. However, the Tibetan word, spelled gtor.ma, has an etymology that is especially revealing. Lama Tashi Dondrup once explained that the word, composed of two parts, stands for "something that is thrown out" + "mother" (a signifier that is female.) The implication is one of cutting of attachment combined with care and generosity without limitation.
Although a torma has specific characteristics that depend upon the deity to whom it is being offered, all tormas have three fundamental elements to their construction: foundation, body, and decoration. These symbolize respectively the qualities of body, speech, and mind.
The energies of these qualities are represented by two or three small, rather flat, discs applied to the front of the conical body. Usually they are in the form of flowers; the rims can be pressed to create the scalloped effect of petals.
The energies of these qualities are represented by two or three small, rather flat, discs applied to the front of the conical body. Usually they are in the form of flowers; the rims can be pressed to create the scalloped effect of petals.
Finally, one or more dabs of coloured butter (or nowadays, a margarine-wax mix) known as gyab gyen are sometimes pressed onto the "back" (Tib.gyab) of the torma. This action dedicates the offering:
. . . it seals the torma offering so that its essence won't be lost or stolen before you get a chance to offer it. I've also heard that it's a gesture, as if you were saying, "thus, I offer." ~ ani Yeshe Wangmo
A torma of elaborate design may be decorative, but it is not as important as the action of generosity which it represents. The colours reflect the nature of the deity to which it is being offered, and can also correspond to traditional yogic principles.
- Tormas at Rumtek Monastery [bottom left of page.]
- Stages in decorating Yamantaka tormas for Losar 2012
- Wonderful giant tormas at the 29th Kagyu Monlam, article by Michele Martin.
Shalzey tormas (Skt. naividya bali) intended for a personal shrine are usually between 4 and 6 inches high, but they can be any size. It takes a large snowball-sized ball of dough to make one that is in the small range with a three-inch diameter base.
Since the bala or torma is intended for a deity, we take care to keep its ingredients pure, and the surface on which we are working clean. The hands must be washed and the maker should avoid breathing on the project. Any bits that fall to the floor are unusable and must be discarded.
The ingredients to make sixteen six-inch tormas are as follows. A five-pound bag of flour without yeast, one cup of butter or shortening (it can be colored with food dye), and a large pot one-third full of water. First, bring the water to boil. Next, add the butter. Then add flour. Stir and let boil for three to five minutes.
Mix, then let it sit to cool a little. It should be just sticky enough to be easily kneaded.
The dough (which may still be hot -- be careful) is removed from the pot and placed on the clean surface where it is kneaded until it is uniformly soft and smooth. (If it sticks too much, dust your hands and/or the surface with flour.)
If you intend to use real food tormas, they must be kept intact. If they show signs of age -- bits falling off, etc. -- then they need to be repaired or replaced. Tormas made of food are never tossed in the garbage but are left outside in a clean place for birds and other animals to enjoy.
NB. If you are going to use a synthetic substance instead of flour, include some grains of rice or other cereal in the torma so that it still has integrity in the sense of a food offering.
- Hints and suggestions at the Kagyu email list include adding olive oil, using beet juice for red colouring and using marzipan.
- Artist Robert Rauschenberg evokes a torma using a fiddle: Tibetan Garden Song (1986)
Ani Yeshe Wangmo (Mary Young) helped produce a video showing how to work with synthetic products such as Sculpey or Fimo. CalledMaking the Karma Pakshi Tormas with Lama Tashi Dhondup, it sells for $25 instructional booklet included.
Butter Sculpture
Butter tormas are usually made by Buddhist monastics for a special occasion. They used to be made only where conditions were cool enough for them to survive for a while without melting. The monks had to keep dipping their hands into cold water to do the modeling. Nowadays, the butter or margarine is mixed with candle wax before colouring is added. They use aids such as hollow bones or straws for making long threads, and molds for making the chakras /flowers and leaves that are applied to the main form. The sculpted forms are often displayed on bats [wooden boards] that have been gold-leafed.
In Lhasa, for the Losar new year celebration 's Butter Lamp Festival on the 15th of the first Tibetan month, all sorts of fantastic figures are made for display alongside the lamps that traditionally use butter as fuel.
On the 19th, at the end of the festival, the torma and the zur are burnt in the ceremony, thus burning the evil that has been attracted to them. Though this is called the torma festival, the actual object to be thrown was called the zur. The zur was an eight or nine-foot high tripod of sticks . . . decorated with butter sculptures of flames, clouds, gems and other symbols. On the top was a big skull from which flames are issued. Many ribbons or strings are tied to the top of the tripod. Inside the legs of the tripod was a torma, and depending on the purpose, its size and color varied.
~ Thubten Norbu ("Festivals of Tibet," J. of Popular Culture 16, #1 (Summer 1982) 126-134.)
- Butter sculpture at Gyuto Monastery: traditional vs modern methods.
Tsa-tsa
In Tibetan Buddhism, some meditation practice involve elaborate cake-like designed semi-edible thoroughly-symbolic things called torma. They’re symbolic of generosity, of offering up what’s good and precious to the world and to the teachings of truth (Dharma), of letting go of what you want and beginning to enter a world that is sacred, full, and inherently rich. Okay, I tried.
Below is a reallll explanation, from tormas.biz (click here for lots of great photos). *They are for Buddhist practice, and not available to the general public (god knows why you’d want them, though they’re beeyuuutiful). If you are a Vajrayana Buddhist practioner, support my friend Phil Karl, the amazing artist of these tormas pictured above and below:
Tormas are associated with many aspects of Tibetan Buddhist practice. At times described by westerners as “Tibetan ritual cakes,” tormas are in fact made from many different kinds of substances. There are various ways of understanding the significance of tormas for Buddhist practitioners and they are a meaningful element of the practice of the Tibetan Vajrayana.The Tibetan word “torma” has two parts. The first syllable “tor” is a verb that means to “throw out.” In the Vajrayana sadhana practices, tormas made of barley flour, butter and other ingredients are literally placed outside as a gesture of making offering and generosity. The inner sense of throwing out is understood as the severing of attachment to desirable things–cutting through one’s entrapment in desire. It can also mean the throwing out of kleshas—severing from, or purifying, conditioned emotional reactions that cause so much suffering for oneself and others.The second syllable “ma” is a feminine ending, which evokes a maternal, nurturing quality. Understanding the true meaning of this simple syllable is a means of cultivating loving kindness for all sentient beings much as a mother feels love for her children. So, with the first syllable one severs attachment to self-centeredness. Having removed that obstacle, with the second syllable one may radiate love and sympathy to others. This is the rich inner meaning of offering torma.(The above was derived in part from remarks made by Lama Tashi Dondrup at Sopa Choling three-year retreat center in 1998. Translated by Elizabeth Callahan.) ~ Phil Karl.Torma (Tibetan: tor ma. Sanskrit: ba lim ta): torma are cone shaped ritual food offerings sculpted in a variety of shapes and sizes, coloured and then adorned with flat circular 'buttons' made from butter.
Red coloured torma, triangular in shape, are offered to fearsome protector deities such as Mahakala and Shri Devi. Torma are made from barley flour and constructed for several reasons. They are made as special offerings for specific deities on special days. They are sometimes used to represent the subject of an initiation ritual. They are also used as weapons during repulsion rituals such as turning back obstacles during New Years celebrations. They are sometimes depicted in paintings meant to hang in the temples of the wrathful protector deities.
Jeff Watt 2-2006
Please see Cho Yang, The Voice of Tibetan Religion & Culture No.7, 1996. Torma the Tibetan Ritual Cake by Claudia Butler (pages 38-52).
Shri Devi (Buddhist Protector)
Magzor Gyalmo
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