Making and placing clay tablets in a stupa, Tibet

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Tsa-tsa,

It has long been a practice in Tibet to have tsa tsas made to accumulate merit, to remove obstacles from one path in life and also made and for those who are ill and made and dedicated for the deceased.
Actually tsatsas are votive tablets in Tibetan Buddhism, usually clay impressions made with a metal mould containing hollowed, reversed image of a deity, a stupa or other sacred symbols.
Traditionally in Tibet, tsa tsas were made with clay from the earth, left to harden, and placed on altars, shrines or in other holy places.They are baked from clay mixed with the ashes of holy persons (lamas).
These tablets were made by monks, given to pilgrims, or placed inside stupas, prayer wheel niches, holy caves and monastery altars, or beside holy mountains, holy lakes and other holy sites.
Tsa tsas have been made by Tibetan Buddhists for hundreds of years as part of their meditation practice.
The making, offering, and sponsoring of tsa tsas is a powerful means of dispelling obstacles to one's practice and well-being.
Tsatsa, with its origin in Sanskrit, is a typical Tibetan Buddhist art form.
Small tsatsas can also be put inside a portable amulet shrine (called Gau in Tibetan) and taken as amulets by those traveling.

Nyingmapa Yazer Gonpa, is an active hermitage affiliated to Dzogchen monastery, known as Yazer Gon. A Nyingma school. Here you! find th e best woodcarving on a Tibetan monastery in Tibet (still under construction at present day). The pillars are some one meter across. Its worth a visit. Just a half hour walk or a little more from Manigango on the other site of the river Tro chu (Cho chu) uphill.
www.footprinttravelguides.com/c/2848/tibet/&Action=pr...