Dril-bu – The Sound of Awareness
Lama Tsultrim Allione refers to the Tibetan bell or dril-bu as a representation of the original female space, which is traditionally held in the left hand.
When I began practicing Feeding Your Demons with Lama-la in the fall of 2019, Tulku Orgyen P’huntsok Rinpoche of Pemaköd instructed me in the Words of My Perfect Teacher. Though I read then that the face on the bell is that of the Wisdom Mother of Space, Vajradhatvishvari, I didn’t yet have a bell, or consider her face as named until this year. For some Tibetans the face on the bell is Prajnaparamita. Lama Tsultrim knows the face as Dhatvishvari, and the bell itself as a symbol of Prajnaparamita.
Karla Jackson-Brewer, the leader of the Tara Mandala New York City Sangha, showed me the power of sound and Chöd in 2020.
She said that the bell symbolizes emptiness, and reminds us that all things are empty of any inherent existence.
