• Dots, Lines, Circles, Triangles, Squares, Polygons, Oblongs and Irregular ones
• Symbols and figures of animals and special abstract ones.

So what’s are the purposes of these symbols? The totems and the symbols represented are closely tied to the Tibetan cultures and religious beliefs.
They are broadly classified into:
1. AVOIDING from Disaster or CEASING from disaster

• Avoiding the disaster, transmuting the misfortune, eliminating the hindrance, etc.
• Type of Symbol used: CIRCULAR
• By wearing Dzi with circular totems this may help people to avoid disaster. Interestingly, there are varying opinion on what should be the correct number of eyes in relation to the avoiding or ceasing from disaster.

2. ENHANCING One’s Benefit

• The meaning of career in good condition, luck in making money, gaining both the good fortune and wisdom, etc
  Type of Symbol used: SQUARE

By wearing the Dzi with square totems this may help to enhance one’s benefit.
( Dzi with only a single square totem are very few. The totems of one square generally appear with one circular symbol. Such totemic combination of Dzi are called Earth-sky-door Dzi which can assist us to avoid/cease from disaster and enhance one’s benefit )

3. Carrying Out PERFECTLY

• Carrying out perfectly and being in good health, establishing a good relation, the most authoritative,etc.
  Type of Symbol used: MOON

By wearing the Dzi with the symbols of moon figures help us to be healthy and establish a good human interrelation.
(The single symbol of moon figure commonly appear on the surface of Board-like Dzi . Generally the moon symbols appear with other totemic symbols on the surface of Long Dzi )

4. SUBMITTING/GETTING RID OF EVIL SPIRITS

• Getting rid of the evil, submitting the evil spirits, eliminating the hindrance of the evil spirits,etc
  Type of Symbol used:Triangular

By wearing the Dzi with the triangular symbols help to submit the evil spirits and get rid of the evil.
(The single triangular symbol commonly appears on the surface of Board-like Dzi. The single triangular symbols generally appear with other totemic symbols on the surface of Long Dzi )

The abovementioned four symbols-circular, square, moon and triangular may appear singly or in groups on the surface of the Tibetan Dzi.

• Wearing the Dzi bead supposedly able to protect its wearer from strokes and other sicknesses as well as from evil influences.
• It can strengthen our physical constitution.
• Medical research had proven that you’ll start to feel thirsty when you start to wear Dzi bead initially, which means that our metabolism and blood circulation are speeding up. Or it may be detecting something negative that it is helping you to put burn away. But after three days, anyone would have adapted to it.

For well being, the Dzi bead can keep

• a person healthy and even help to lose weight.
• helps relieve tiredness, improve blood circulation and nourishes the root chakra.
• stimulate analytical capabilities and enhance our inherent talents.
• for those who are familiar with crystals, agate the materials used for producing Dzi bead is able to expel off negative energies and nourishes our good fortune luck.
• promote prosperity by making us more energetic and sociable and can greatly benefit business and personal matters too.

Generally, if, while it is being worn, the bead is in any way damaged or broken, it is taken as a sign that the bead has performed its task and absorbed the shock of the super-natural attack As they are consider “useless” for any further protection, they are then buried under the ground.

2. By taking it Orally as a powder mixed with other preparations.

• Organic and mineral materials are detoxified and then ground into a very fine powder & Dzi is also included. Rinchen Ratna Samphel, (the Precious Wish Fulfilling Jewel) contains over 100 different ingredients including Ngochu Tsothel, (a preparation of purified mercury, sulphur and sixteen different metals and minerals developed by the thirteenth century Tibetan scholar. Khedup Ugen Rinchen Pal), as well as seventy other ingredients such as purified gold, silver, copper, iron, lead and lode-stone. More notably the pill contains such gems as coral, turquoise, pearls, lapis lazuli and Dzi. ( pearl is considered the most effective of all the organic and metallic drugs – said to cure brain diseases and extract poison; cool nature of turquoise is believed to help liver ailments and blood pressure and is said to possess a detoxifying quality; Gold is believed to prevent poison from affecting the organs of the body by causing it to slide down like water poured on a flower petal; Silver is supposed to dry and stop the flow of blood and pus, and coral is used for fevers, sapphire for leprosy and extracting poison from the system. Coral is said to help migraine, brain disorders, fainting spells and seizures.)

Basically, its authenticity can be determined based on the smoothness, lustre, weathering marks on the surface, chippings, curves and the technique of making the string hole of the bead’s opening as well as from the line designs.Criteria to Identify Dzi Beads

1. Weathering Marks

Weathering marks are signs of aging and represent the age of a dzi bead. They are the tine lines of different thickness running irregularly on the surface of the dzi bead. However, not every old dzi bead will have the weathering marks.

2. Cinnabar Dots

Cinnabar Dots are the red or black speckles that grow from within the body of Dzi to its surface. It is possible that these cinnabar dots are the effects of the magnetic interaction between the Dzi and the human body after a very long time. However, dzi beads with cinnabar dots are extremely difficult to find and the price usually very high.

3. Diaphaneity

Diaphaneity is the transparency of the dzi body, which is the ability to allow light to pass through. It was once used as the method to identify the authentication of dzi beads. This should not be the ONLY criteria to determine the value of Dzi.

4. Circular Dragon Marks

Circular dragon marks are the natural streaks that circulate the body of dzi. These marks are propitious signs resulted from the meditative practice of the gurus.

Besides the above, there are many other criteria to identify dzi beads such as :-

the body color, surface pattern, degree of perfection etc.

With the value of authentic dzi beads at the increasing trend, the market is now flooded with imitation dzi beads by using glass or poly. These has confused many buyers.

The magnetic energy emitted by Dzi Bead is very gentle and is suitable to be placed at any human parts. It is perceived to be able to regulate blood circulation and reduce illnesses.

Benefits for the Wearer Besides wearing it for protection purposes, the magnetic energy from the Dzi can regulate the body’s blood and ‘qi/chi’ circulation, balance the body’s yin yang and five elements, improves the body’s immunity system and henceforth, achieve overall improvement in one’s health.

The effects are similar to acupuncture. It can improve the health of those suffering from heart diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes as well as reduce various symptoms like poor blood circulation, blocked nose, sprains, insomnia and aching bones.In fact, people have used Dzi ( by strapping from the body of the Dzi) as one part of the important ingredient to be added to the other medicines to cure epilepsy diseases

• by age,
• scarcity,
• number of the eyes (odd numbered, eight-eyed and twelve-eyed Dzis are more expensive),
• degree of chippings,
• cinnabar dots (will grow from inner to the surface with age)
• special designs like Buddha’s eye, Heaven-and-Earth Motif, Dorje design, Lotus and Bottle Motif, and
• unique patterns to determine the price.

How expensive of the prices of the Dzi-bead should depend mainly on:

• Availablity. Very few pure ancient dzi actually come into the marketplace. Therefore,Dzi beads carry a high premium as they so scarce and the demand for them is so high.

• Rarity of Design.

Certain types of dZi are more desirable in different regions of Tibet and Asia in general. So for example you may pay a high price for a Tiger Dzi in China but a relatively low price in Nepal. So demand in different regions will affect the price of Dzi.

For thousands of years, Tibetans have viewed Dzi as a living gemstone. It is meant for devout worship and is reverently kept and passed down over generations. The authentic “Pure Dzi” are found primarily in Tibet and the “Chung Dzi” which is of lesser pure type of Dzi can be found in neighboring countries such as Nepal. The “pure” dZi beads are regarded as the most valuable and desirable variety. Etched agate beads not considered pure are called “Chung Dzi”, or “secondary, less important dZi.”

Dzi enjoys great popularity around the world, and it is a revered sacred charm for protection, worship, health, as well as a symbol of wealth.

Places of Origin and Legends Of Dzi:-

There are many stories pertaining to the place of origin and legend about Dzi which includes the following:

• The main places of origin are Western Tibet, Eastern Tibet, Bhutan,Sikkim, Ladakh and certain regions in the Himalaysa.Dzi has been around for 2000 to 2500 years.
• Some believed that Dzi originated from a stream in Ngari;another believed that it was the treasure of the Azha Kingdom, Tibet: yet others thought it was one of the gemstones in the treasury of the Tagzig Kingdom.
• Some believed that Dzi is actually a “God’s treasure” which has descended to earth and was discovered by the Tibetans. Hence the Tibetans still regard Dzi as the “heavenly stone”.
• It is also said to be the celestial essence from Manjushri Bodhisattva’s previous incarnate (Manjushri Buddha) and some believed it was made by Asura;
• It is even said to be made from meteorites that plummeted down to earth from outer space.
• Plankton from the Tethys Sea

In very ancient times,the land on which now stands Tibet was a vast inland sea known as Tethys Sea.Gzi were microscopic organisms drifting in the sea.In their original form,they were like mollusks and conches with a fleshy body protected by a shell.They could move about freely.Later,as a result of prodigious geological upheaval,the seabed was thrust skyward to become the Himalayas.The plankton died,their flesh dried up and their shells turned into Gzi beads.

• Painted stones from India

A couple dwelling in the Himalayas painted designs onto a unique kind of stone from India to create Gzi beads.Since painting such stones involved elaborate skill and learning such skill was extremely difficult,the skill was lost after the death of the couple.

• Snake-like living things

Gzi are living things that could move about like a snake. When they are found and touched, they will stop moving and turn into a string of Gzi beads. Legend alleges that where horses rest with their legs thrown up to the sky, there are Gzi beads nearby.

• Appear in fields and in the dune of cattle and sheep

Gzi beads are ancient relics buried deep underground but geological movements in the course of time expose them on the earth surface. They are picked up by farmers during fieldwork. There are also Tibetan nomads trying to search the dune of the animals they grazed in the meadows in hope of finding Gzi beads.

• Petrified insects, or the crystallized fossil of the sacred Khyang bird

• Insects that can fly, run and crawl

Lamas use their long sleeves to strike down those flying and running insects which then harden into Gzi beads. As for those crawling on the ground, men will throw sand onto them to immobilize them. Then they will harden into Gzi beads. If the sand fails to hit them, they will disappear.

• Gzi meadows

There are several Gzi meadows in Tibet.It is said that people with merits would see them flying above the meadow.After being captured they will turn into fossils.

• Weapon of Asura

Asura belongs to one of the six classes of living beings.Its abode is deep in the ocean to the north of Mt.Sumera,the center of the Buddhist world.Asura always acts against the Sakyamuni Buddha and does not listen to the Buddha’s words.Therefore it is considered a non-god, non-divine and non-human being with a bellicose character.Gzi beads are its weapons.

• Precious jewels of the gods

Tibetans believe that Gzi beads are the precious jewels of the gods who discard them to the human world when they become blemished. This explains why it is extremely difficult to find Gzi beads in perfect condition.

• Gzi come in hoards

Such a legend circulates among the Tibetans in the Kham region. One day, A man herding yaks accidentally found a hoard of beautiful Gzi in the mountain. Many Gzi crawled around in their “nest”. He tried to capture them all but failed to do so .He then ran back to his village to fetch help. Later, he returned to find that except for a few Gzi, the rest had managed to escape from the nest. They could not find the lost Gzi despite repeated searches.

• Gzi stream in Ngari

Legend alleges that there were Gzi beads flowing continuously like a stream from a mountain slope near Rutog in Ngari.One day, a wicked woman “cast an evil eye” at the mountain and the flow of Gzi immediately stopped. It is said that the spot can still be recognized. It is marked by characteristic black and white stripes like those on a Gzi bead.

• Magic beads cast by Vajravarahi Buddha

During those early years when Tibet was overwhelmed by severe epidemic, Tibetans were plunged into an abyss of misery and they led a very hard life. Fortunately, the compassionate Vajravarahi Buddha came to relieve them by dropping from the sky magic Gzi beads.

Historical Accounts Of Dzi Beads:

The earliest record of Dzi in China’s history is in the Tang Dynasty. When Princess Wencheng married Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo, the most expensive betrothal gift was a Buddha statue built according to the image of the 12 year old Jowo Sakyamuni. It was brought to Tibet all the way from Chang’an. The Buddha’s diadem, cape, decorative strap and robe were splendidly adorned with various pearls, agates, turquoises, corals and hundreds of various Dzi, including three Nine-eyed Dzi beads, Triple-eyed Dzi beads, Double-eyed Dzi beads, Tiger-tooth & Longevity Dzi beads and others. This Buddha statue is currently placed in Lhasa, Jokhang Monastery. Hence, we can see that Dzi beads have been used as offerings to Buddha; not only are they sacred, but they are also rare and precious.