A kangling is a trumpet made froma human thigh-bone, played intantric Buddhist rituals, particularlya ritual called chd (Tibetan:cutting) which is designed toremove your emotional attachmentto your body. Putting a deadpersons leg bone to your mouth -to blow the kangling whilepracticing - is an intimate reminderof your own mortality.

Chd is also a celebration ofgenerosity and of your connectionsto people and other creatures inthe web of life and death.Recognising your place in the foodchain is a part of that. In chd, you

blow the kangling to summondemons to a ritual feast - and youare the main course on the menu.

High quality kanglings are nowrare and expensive - making yourown is more affordable andcreates a stronger personalconnection with the instrument.

Conceptually, making a kanglingis very simple, you start with ahuman femur (thighbone), whichyou can easily find lying about inany local charnel ground (you dopractice in a charnel ground, dontyou?). You cut the hip end off,poke two holes in the knee end,

clear the bones central channel,and blow through it.

Cleaning and especially sawinga bone will put quite a lot of bonedust in the air so wear a dustmask; any kind of dust in yourlungs is unhealthy - but even withthe mask, you are almost certainto ingest some bone. It has quitean odd taste, but thats part of thefun - and heightens your intimateconnection with the dead. If youare squicked by a little recreationalcannibalism, you might not beready to practicechd - consult yourlocal Buddhist lamabefore proceeding.

Theres a hitch however, livingbone is a combination of mostlycalcium phosphate and collagen.Calcium is a hard but brittlemineral; collagen is an elasticprotein (it also makes up tendons,cartilage, and skin) Together, theyare extraordinarily strong. However,when a bone is cleaned and dried,all the collagen goes, and thatmakes it surprisingly fragile. So,the knee end of kanglings arecovered, both to protect them andto hide the fact that they aredisintegrating. The covering can bemade from skin or metal.

Skin coverings are normallycoloured dark reddish-brown to looklike theyre covered in dried blood,and if it is covered it in metal, thatmight as well decorate as well.

Everykanglingcombineshorror and

beauty. Itsparticularaestheticsmayemphasise one

or the other ofthose aspects.

FIRST FIND A BONEYou probably already have at leasta couple of thighbones around thehouse. However, it is usually bestto find one whose original ownerno longer has any use for it. Thiscan be something of a challenge.

Leaving aside various esotericand improbable options, there aretwo main approaches. You can buya cleaned, intact femur, or you canbuy a badly made tourist kanglingand upgrade it. Try eBay, orGoogle to find an antiques shop orsimilar that may be able to sell youpart of an old anatomical skeleton

theradiantgift of

bones

The Tibetan kangling -human thighbone trumpet

David Chapman

Top: a tantricpractitionerblows a kanglingduring aceremony

Inset: MachigLabdrn, theC10th Tibetanwoman whoorginated chd -a mix of tantricBuddhism andshamanism.

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Around page:kanglings withskin covering

and one with asilver covering.

Care needs tobe taken when

buying silverended kanglings

as the silver may hide burned

bone if the bone has been

taken from acremation fire.

This is notconsidered good

David Chapmanpractices TantricBuddhism in theTibetan Aro gTr

lineage. He writesabout Buddhismat the web sites

Buddhism forVampires (buddhism-

for-vampires.com),Approaching Aro(www.approaching

aro.org), andMeaningness (www.

meaningness.com).His background inbiomedical science

contributed to hisarticle about human

thigh-bone trumpets.

etc1. Do not buy a femur that isburnt at all; those usually havebeen stolen fromcremation sites.

Perhaps somewhatsurprisingly, it isentirely legal toown humanbones inmost

places. Youmay want to

check local law,however.

Kanglings made for touristsmay be available in Tibetan importshops or Buddhist centers, theskin will be painted bright red.These are minimally adequate forBuddhist practice, but cheesy. Thegood thing is that they are usuallyno more expensive than a barefemur. You can rescue the boneand turn it into somethingworthwhile. High quality kanglingsused to turn up in Tibetan shops,but are now rare and cost manyhundreds of pounds.

In Tibet, kanglings weresometimes made from animalbones, wood, or metal. Theseseem to me poor substitutes, theysimply wont have the emotionalcharge of part of a deadperson. Using a plaster cast,or a plastic or other artificialreproduction femur, is rightout. If you try to summondemons with a plastickangling, they will justlaugh at you and it willserve you right.

CONTEMPLATING CONNECTIONBefore you start working on yourkangling, I suggest contemplatingthe bone: both its appearance andits significance.

Horror or disgust may make itdifficult to face it squarely. It can beeasiest to start by thinking of it assomething youd find on the beach,like a piece of coral. It is, indeed, abeautiful piece of natural history.

Examine it closely. The shape,and the surface texture, areextraordinarily complex. There arerough and smooth areas, roundedpieces and sudden edges. Thereare subtle variations in colour, frompure calcium white to caramelbrown. There are channels forblood vessels, and grooves wheremuscles attached. You might find itintriguing enough to learn a littleabout how each of the partsfunction in the body. Every femuris unique. My kangling has a rough

area that I suspect may be a signof arthritis. The details are theresult of a subtle interplay ofbiological pattern and randomcircumstances.

The bone you hold in yourhands is the product of four billionyears of evolution: a vast history ofpurposeful lives and accidentaldeaths. It is, thus, a manifestationof the endless dance of form andemptiness.

You have two bones very muchlike this one inside your body,mirror images of each other. Youcould hold the bone against yourleg to see how it fits.

It is remarkable how well bodieswork without our thinking about

them, orhaving much

understanding orappreciation for them.

Many religions are anti-body -bodies, they say, are messy,disgusting, and impure. They tieyou to physical reality, and are fullof hormones that drive you intonasty unspiritual sins.

Buddhist tantra is pro-body,bodies are amazing, wonderful,and sacred. They connect you tophysical reality, and are full ofhormones that drive you towardglorious this-world enlightenment.

Its inescapably obvious that youare holding a piece of deadperson. Soon you will be dead too.Remember, you will probably nevertouch the bones of the peopleclosest to you, so by holding thisbone, you have an extraordinarilyintimate connection with its originalowner - now dead. Probably theywere someone about whom youcan know nothing. How did theylive? What were their hopes, theirfears; their triumphs and disasters?How did they die? How are theyremembered?

This bone is, in a sense, theirfinal gift - even if they did notparticularly intend that. Youshould be grateful, in any case.Chd is a feast of generosity, itaffirms that you are willing togive your life, and even yourbody, for the benefit of others. Itis a celebration of yourconnections in the world-wideweb of life and death. Your life,and your death, may touchothers profoundly, we are allinterrelated in ways we can

never fully comprehend.

This article is greatly edited from a muchlonger article which goes through thewhole process of making a kangling in astep-by-step description enabling you tomake your own if you wish to.The full text of the article - together withmany photographs of kanglings and thestages of construction can be found at:www.buddhism-for-vampires.com/kangling-chod

NOTES 1: The UK Tibetan Buddhist Aro sangha(group of practitioners) has femurs andmay sell to the public.Contact: queries@arobuddhism.org

Remember,you will

probablynever touch

the bones ofthe people

closest to you,so by holding

this bone, youhave an

extraordinarilyintimate

connection withits original owner

Its inescapablyobvious that youare holding apiece of deadperson. Soonyou will bedead too

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