Kangling (Ritual Horn)

The kangling is a ritual horn from the Tibetan tradition, played at ceremonies and rituals. Its sound is understood as an invitation to the spirits and as a reminder of impermanence. A rare and meaningful object for committed practitioners.

Tibetan Kangling Ritual Horn Resin with Brocade Case

CHF 59.50

What is a kangling and what is its role in Tibetan ceremonial practice?

The kangling is one of the most extraordinary instruments of Tibetan ritual music. Its name combines the Tibetan words for leg and flute, a reference to its traditional form made from a human thigh bone. Today kanglings are mostly made of brass, copper or animal bone, but the symbolic link to impermanence remains. Like the conch trumpet, it is blown in ceremonies, but its sound is piercing, raw and unmistakable. It is not meant to please, but to awaken.

In Tibetan ritual practice, the kangling is played in Chöd ceremonies, an advanced meditation practice in which the practitioner symbolically offers up their own ego. The sound calls spirits and demons in order to offer them, in visualisation, one's own body as an offering. A radical practice of generosity and letting go. The kangling is also played at funeral ceremonies to accompany the consciousness of the deceased on its way through the bardo.

The kangling appeals above all to people who engage deeply with Tibetan ritual practice, and to collectors of Tibetan ritual objects. Our kanglings are made by hand by Tibetan artisans in the Himalayas, so no two are alike.