Namkha

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Namkha is a form of yarn or thread cross composed traditionally of wool or silk and is metonymic of the Endless knot of the Ashtamangala. In certain rites, the Namkha becomes a pure land 'abode' or 'temenos' of a thoughtform; where in other rites it becomes a snare for demons. It is a form of intentional process art. Weavings of a similar nature are called "God's eye" in English folk art. In the Bön and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions, a namkha is constructed as the temporary dwelling or temenos for a deity during ritual practice. The structure of the namkha is traditionally made with colored thread symbolic of the elements (blue, green, red, white, and yellow; space, air, fire, water, and earth respectively ), the sequence, and the shape of the namkha differing for each deity or yidam. The namkha is placed on the practitioner's altar or shrine and an image of the deity may be placed beneath. The namkha is often accompanied in rites and ritual workings with the tantric and shamanic tool, the phurba.