DZi Beads - The Legend

DZi Beads, a concise explanation of the origin and the legend.

DZi, zi, zee... are the often encountered denomination of the Beads. But let's hear the complete explanation from Laura Li.

Not long ago, international film stars Mel Gibson and Jet Li visited Taiwan. While they were there, both were given Tibetan dZi ("zee") beads reportedly worth millions of NT dollars.

Three years ago the world was stunned when a China Airline plane crashed in Nagoya. The disaster, however, would prove to be a boom for the dZi bead market in Taiwan. One of the crash's two survivors, a Mr. Chen, speculated during a television interview that he may well have survived because he was wearing a "nine-eyed" dZi bead amulet.

Guardians against evil, expellers of bad karma, bringers of health, wealth and good fortune. . . .What exactly are dZi beads?

The controversy surrounding dZi beads stems from their mysterious origins more than a millenium ago and also from the beautiful legends that have been passed down about them over the centuries in Tibet, that ancient kingdom in the snow.

Stories of stones dropping from Heaven can be traced back to a Buddhist sutra that records a Himalayan legend about an evil spirit who would from time to time descend to the world of men to cause plagues and disasters. Fortunately, a benevolent god took pity on the humans and cultivated its powers in Heaven, causing the beads to fall from Heaven. Those whose good fate it was to obtain one would thus be protected from misfortunes and all kinds of evil. Different variations on this same basic legend are found all over Tibet.

Whether dZi beads are spiritual bugs or stones fallen from Heaven, they bring good karma to those who own them. Since having a dZi bead can bring good fortune, health and wealth, affluent Tibetans have long been avid collectors of these legendary jewels. As long as 1300 years ago, The New History of the Tang Dynasty recorded that Tibetans liked to wear dZi beads, "a single one of which could be traded for a horse." From this you can see the high value that was placed on them.

Which are authentic?

If you put one on now, you'll start to feel thirsty after a while, which means that your metabolism and blood circulation are speeding up. Don't worry-after three days you'll have adapted. Then the bead will keep you healthy and even help you lose weight.
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"Here we only sell 'new dZi beads' that have just been mined high in the Himalayas where the Earth is closest to Heaven," says a saleswoman wearing an elegant qipao gown. "Their magnetic field is particularly strong." With smooth motions she picks up an earth-sky-door dZi bead: "This bead has a magnetic field of 50 gauss. It can strengthen your physical constitution..."

Can these new beads actually be considered real dZi beads? "Of course, the new ones are better than the old ones! After several thousand years of being worn by so many people, the old beads' magnetic fields are greatly diminished, and they're 'unclean.' You're best not to wear them," warns the salesclerk, with an appropriately alarmed expression.

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Persian booty

In 1959 the Chinese communists invaded Tibet, and the Dalai Lama and leading officials fled abroad. They took much valuable jewelry with them, including coral, amber and turquoise, as well as many mysterious dZi beads with their stunning contrasts of white on black. Yet what exactly are dZi beads? The beautiful legends of ancient peoples clearly aren't enough to satisfy obsessive Western archaeologists, who have long been working to uncover when and how dZi beads were made, and how they have been passed down over the ages. Archeologists hope one day to crack this millennia-old mystery.

Regrettably, up to now Western scholars haven't been able to verify much, and dZi beads are still largely cloaked in mystery.

Nonetheless, after looking through all the classics, Chang Hung-shih believes that the most believable legend is that of the Persian King's Treasure. Legend has it that about the year 700, during the rule of the Empress Wu in China, the demigod King Gisa led Tibetan soldiers to a string of impressive military victories, including an out-and-out conquest of what would later become Persia. When the Tibetan king visited the treasure storerooms in the Persian palace, he discovered many rare treasures, and those he regarded as most precious were dZi beads, "which danced in the palace." Taken as the spoils of victory, they were brought back to Tibet to reward the soldiers. The records even state the exact numbers of beads: "There were 50,600 of the most valuable Nectar dZi beads, and 390,000 of the next most valuable, the three-eyed dZi bead. . . ," quotes Chang Hung-shih from the records.

If this is true, then were dZi beads originally Persian? Perplexingly, although there are numerous archeological finds of ancient Persian beads, no beads yet discovered there have resembled dZi beads. Chang conjectures that perhaps Gisa took the Persian artisans back to Tibet, where they manufactured dZi beads using Himalayan materials and Tibetan religious designs. The artisans gradually died off, and their skills were lost, so that production ceased.

Evil eyes

What marvel and mystery surround these small beads! Nevertheless, if you broaden the focus, and look at their cultural significance, you will discover that the passing down of "eye-shaped decorative beads" is a phenomenon common to Egypt, Mesopo-tamia, India and China. All of these lands have had "eye-bead cultures."

In accord with the description in the Buddhist sutras of the omnipresent "five poisonous evil eyes," the ancients believed that seeing an "evil eye" would bring about disaster and misfortune, or cause one to have evil thoughts or fall into the traps of jealousy and reproach. Using an "eye for an eye," as it were, the ancients created various eye totems, which appeared on homes, temples and even coffins. They also made various kinds of charms and ornamental beads and wore them at all times.

Chang uses the term "the evil-eye-resisting triumvirate" to explain dZi beads: First, the round designs are themselves eyes- "good eyes" to scare away and repel the "evil eyes," warning all misfortunes to keep away. Second, the square designs symbolize a shield resisting the power of evil eyes. Third, the sharply angled tiger stripes represent power to fight back with great strength. The Tibetans use "eyes" to describe the white-lined designs on dZi beads. The higher the number of eyes, the greater its powers. The legendary 13-eyed dZi bead allows one to attain whatever one desires and is, thanks to its great number of eyes, without rival.

Warding off evil, eye beads have been important to many cultures. In ancient Egypt eye beads were placed in royals' tombs to accompany them in the afterlife. In the 19th century, a single African Bodom bead could be traded for seven slaves. And in today's international bead market, dragonfly glass beads from the Warring States era in China, which are just as renowned as dZi beads, are avidly sought after by museums.

Bearing the masses' sins

Indeed, if you ask people in Taiwan why they like dZi beads so much that they are willing to have the honor of "hosting them," one suspects that technical difficulty and cultural meaning won't be among most people's answers. Repelling evil, fostering health and bringing wealth are the three goals of most dZi bead enthusiasts.

A long-time Buddhist devotee and volunteer at a cancer ward at Taiwan National University Hospital, Mrs. Chen had long had trouble sleeping and had great difficulty getting rid of her feelings of fatigue. She bought an earth-sky-door dZi bead, and "the result was that as soon as the sun comes up, my body feels much more relaxed," says Mrs. Chen.

The most remarkable incident occurred when Mrs. Chen was participating in a Buddhist retreat. After reciting sutras, there was a period for meditation. Chen, an elderly woman, has sciatica, and her legs go numb after sitting for any length of time. But because everyone else during the meditation period was quiet and still, she didn't dare disturb the peace by moving much. In desperation she took the dZi bead off her wrist and jammed it between her crossed legs. "It was like a vegetarian turkey taken from the freezer that begins to thaw from the direction to which it is exposed to the air: my two legs began slowly to recover sensation starting from where they were closest to the bead." Mrs. Chen felt overcome by joy, a joy that she still feels today whenever she recounts what happened.

The tiny Lu Mei-li, who goes to Tibet on buying trips every year, is famous in the Taiwan dZi bead market for handling old dZi beads of the highest quality. She has a varied clientele. Some of her customers are entrepreneurs who hope that dZi beads will bring them great wealth, others are parents sending children to study abroad who hope that a dZi can protect them in a foreign land. Once one of her businessman customers had an affair, and the wife bought a dZi bead, hoping it would get her husband's affections back. Even Buddhist monks, who must bear the great sins of the masses, come to her for dZi beads that will ward off evil.

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