The Loyalty Mala 108 Bead (11 mm) Dragon Rudraksha with Red Agate Guru Bead
The Loyalty Mala – 108 beaded mala made.
Seeds: good quality premium mini rudraksha semi-flat beads (9+ mm x 6 mm) from Indonesia Java Island.
Pendant: A heart shaped walnut pendant.
Spacer Beads: two bloody red Alashan Agate as spacer beads from the Gobi desert. Hand selected with the best color and shape.
Guru Bead: is a well polished icy carnelian agate bead.
Finishing Beads: (2) super quality matched phoenix eye bodhi beads (12mm) act as protective beads. Two eyes are well matched and wide open. When wearing it, the pendent should go front and the two phoenix eye beads will “watch your back”.
Good quality beads and will become smooth and shine after wear for couple of months.
The Story:
Bi Gan (比干) was a prominent Chinese figure during the Shang Dynasty(1600 to 1046 B.C). He was the uncle of the last Emperor of Shang, also known as, King Zhou (紂王) who was bedeviled or captivated by his queen, a pretty fox evil spirit (DaJi) and committing all manner of evil and cruel deeds with her. Notorious for his corruptness, King Zhou was annoyed by Bi Gan’s advice to rectify his ways.
He ordered Bi Gan’s execution through extraction of the heart (比干剖心), under the curiosity advised by his beloved wife (DaJi) “whether the Sage’s heart has seven openings”. Bi Gan was furious but as the loyal minister to his emperor, he think there is still chance King Zhou will realized how silly he is and perhaps his death can wake up his emperor and distant him from the bad influence of DaJi.
In front of everyone in the palace, Bi Gan extracted his own heart and tossed it on the ground then walked out of the palace. (In the legend of story, he was given a magic potion by a mythological figure Jiang Ziya. Therefore, he was able to walk without his heart.)
The plot became a popular element of the Warring States philosophic discourse. He is immortalized as a Taoist deity later on. And because he is “heartless”, he become a symbol of fairness and loyalty. In China, people like to use the analogy or phrase “比Bi干 Gan 剖 Extract 心 Heart” (the heart extraction of Bi Gan) to express how loyal someone is to someone or an entity but being treated unfairly.
Well, I was inspired by the story and find this heart shaped walnut from a friend of mine (a professional walnut collector) which is a perfect candidate for the mala.
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Necklace
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