An antique Tibetan silver butter lamp with ornate decorative details, measuring 5 1/2” height and with a 4 1/8” bowl and weighing 257 grams, is finely proportioned with delicate details.
Butter lamps are a staple in all Tibetan Buddhist and Himalayan altars. They come in different sizes and are made of different metals. People of modest means have lamps made of base metals - copper and brass that are cast into shape, relatively inexpensive and mass produced commercially; more well to do families and monasteries have them made to order and in precious materials such as silver and adorned with jewels, filled with carvings and repousse work that is gilded.
Each piece is a piece of art, requiring the careful attention of craftsmen for hundreds of hours to create masterpieces that are proportional and well executed and yet fade into the background without taking attention away from the deities or shrines. A badly made lamp can be noticed instantly.
The lamps traditionally burn clarified yak butter, but now often use vegetable oil or vanaspati The butter lamps help to focus the mind and aid meditation. According to the Root tantra of Cakrasaṃvara Tantra, “If you wish for sublime realization, offer hundreds of lights”.
Pilgrims also supply lamp oil to gain merit. The monks in the monastery manage the actual lamps, taking extreme care to avoid starting one of the devastating fires which have damaged many monasteries over the years. For safety, butter lamps are sometimes restricted to a separate courtyard enclosure with a stone floor. Externally, the lights are seen to banish darkness. Conceptually, they convert prosaic substance into illumination, a transformation akin to the search for enlightenment.
