Vaj wrote:
> > Yes, I was referring to it's use in Bon tantric practices
> > which pre-date the introduction of Tantric Buddhism to
> > Tibeto-Himalaya. The original phurbas--called "kilas"...
> >
> I wonder if that's actually "kiila":
>
Probably not - the pre-Buddhist inhabitants of Tibet didn't speak
Sanskrit or any common Indian prakrit. Bon religionists probably spoke
a dialect of Mongol or Chinese before the arrival of Padmasambhava.
The big difference is that the Bon cult used the magic dagger for
mundane purposes while the Buddhist tantrics used it as an
iconographic symbol for transcending and acoomplishment (siddhi).
