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Hello, today we’ll try to make some tsa-tsas.
I’ll show you just technology without consecration.
Just how to make these nice tsa-tsa...
in modern conditions.
We’ll start from making stupa.
To do this we’ll need a mould...
clay...
consecrated rice...
oil to lubricate the mould...
spatula to take off the excessive clay...
such kind of a modelling knife to clean the mould
and a small sponge
to take excessive oil.
First we check the mould
for the impurituies...
And clean them in order to avoid...
defects of tsa-tsa.
After cleaning the mould,
we lubricate internal part of it.
In such a manner.
When we lubricate it for the first time,
there can be excess of oil here in the bottom.
In this case the clay may become too loose and may come off
or even remain in the mould.
In order to avoid it we take our sponge
and absorb excessive oil.
If we wish the tsa-tsa
to come out easily out of the form,
we must lubricate well the edge.
We’ve prepared the mould
and now we need to prepare clay.
We’ve made such a “beet root”.
Which we put into the mould.
Slightly press and start to fill the clay in.
It’s important here not to apply force,
but to beat the clay in.
For this purpose we have this piece of pine wood.
And we start pushing the clay.
As you can see,
the excessive clay can be easily torn.
We’ll use it later for making other tsa-tsa.
After we’ve “beaten” the mould,
and you feel that the clay filled it in,
you take spatula...
and cut the excess.
Don’t pay much attention
that by the moment it’s not very nice.
Then we form the bottom.
Just like that.
And form it by hand like this.
Here you must catch the size,
so that all stupas later were at the same height.
This way we make the bottom flat.
And continue to form it.
When the mould is filled in,
we take either a chop stick...
or a nail...
and make a punctum in the center
in order to place consecrated rice
and give life to our tsa-tsa.
We’ve done a punctum.
And put there 3 grains of rice.
Next we take a piece of clay.
Roll it and tap the hole.
As you can see, the hole is sealed.
Then we take the stupa from the mould.
In order to do this we crack the edge.
When there appears a crack – it’s done.
We press all the way long.
You see that the crack is all the way round.
Then we turn the stupa,
putting it on the hand.
This hand works as a support
and with another one we take the mould off.
And have this nice stupa.
It’s still wet and we need to dry it.
After some time it’ll become dry
and you can see it becomes smaller.
We place it here, nearby.
To let it dry.
The following tsa-tsa...
is better to be done by boys, because the mould is heavy
and you need big hands to work with it.
This is Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava tsa-tsa.
We take it the same manner and lubricate it.
Paying attention to the edges
so that tsa-tsa could later
come out of the mould easily.
In deeper parts
like face of Guru Padmasambhava,
we have excess of oil,
which we wipe out with the sponge.
We lubricate the mould well, but not too much.
If you’ll have excess of oil,
smaller details will come off and will not be seen.
Then we take a piece of clay.
We’ve prepared the clay,
mixed it with holy substances.
We mixed this clay with earth from holy places of Tibet,
Like Maratika cave, Mount Kailash.
It’s very good to add mandala sand...
Maybe some relics.
Here we have earth from Manjushri Hill,
Mandarava cave, Mount Kailash,
Tashigar South,
from the manadala sand of Green Tara
and the manadala sand of Medicine Buddha.
All this is mixed here.
We beat the clay well in order not to have bubbles in it.
Press it in...
and start beating.
We take off excessive clay.
Make the bottom.
And beat a little.
This form takes more time because it’s big.
We make holes in 3 places of Guru Rinpoche.
Take 3 grains of rice.
And tap them.
We start taking tsa-tsa out from the top.
The clay must be rather dense,
more or less like playdough (modelling clay).
It’ll be easier to work.
If the clay is too wet, it will dry longer.
And the print won’t be that good.
The tsa-tsa is heavy enough.
And comes out easily.
So we have this Guru Rinpoche figurine.
Here we have some border.
Which we eliminate in such a slight manner.
And this Guru Rinpoche tsa-tsa is ready.
For comparison there's a dried tsa-tsa.
You need it to calculate the quantity of tsa-tsas in laying position.
Which must be done, based on dried tsa-tsas.
Then bring it to the place where we dry tsa-tsas.
The third form which we make...
is optional.
You can make it or not.
It’s your choice.
Our stupa is also related to well-being,
health, prosperity,
flourishing of Longsal Teaching.
We make Long Life Deities tsa-tsa.
We’ll need a smaller piece of clay
than for Guru Padmasambhava tsa-tsa.
We beat it in the same manner.
We lubricate the mould.
The mould is rather small,
so it’s better to try a bit in making a good print.
First prints are usually not so good.
If you plan to offer these tsa-tsas to someone
after you do this practice,
you must be ready
that first ones won't be that good.
So first ones you’d better make without rice,
just to practise.
The same manner we press it in and beat.
We use only the weight of the mould and the clay.
The fingers we use just to keep it.
We don't press it with fingers.
Otherwise the image will be blurred.
You can see that clay goes in perfectly. Without any effort.
And we cut the excessive clay easily.
We make the bottom flat.
For smaller moulds it's better to use smaller spatula.
It’ll be easier to work with it.
In 3 places - where 3 divinities are:
Guru Amitayus, White Tara and Ushnishavijaya - we make holes.
We put there rice.
So now we have a terma for a year of hunger – 3 grains of rice.
In the same manner we crack the tsa-tsa.
Very carefully, without effort.
And take the tsa-tsa out.
So, we have these nice tsa-tsas.
Before practice we do Guru Yoga.
Set our motivation, thinking why we do it.
Obviously we do it for the benefit of all living beings.
During the practice we are in the state of Guru Yoga.
We recite matra,
which we don't pronounce here for obvious reasons.
When we do practice, making holy images,
we get some merits.
And when sentient beings stay near these images or see them,
they get a good cause...
To be reborn in the place
where the Teachings exist,
where there's possibility for practice.
So, during the practice we collected some merits
and at the end we dedicate them
for the benefit of all sentient beings.
That’s all about it.