Dung-thung
the thunderbolt lance
The Dung-thung (mDung thung) – short spear or short lance – is associated with a group of vajra weapons which are used by horseback warriors: the Dung-dar (mDung dar) – lance banner; and the Tsé-dung (rTse mDung) – pointed spear.
Khandro Déchen said of the Dung-thung:
It may be necessary as a practitioner to travel a long way before one finds oneself able to track down the many traces of one’s confusion. If a horse is necessary for a long journey then all the weapons necessary for mounted combat are necessary. Ngakpas and ngakmas or naljorpas and naljormas must be equipped in order to impale their self-serving tendencies and to do so with efficiency before they break their vows by indulging themselves in narcissistic self-protective strategies.
This Dung-thung is part of a set of vajra weapons which belong to the Confederate Sanghas of Aro and is made of bronze. This set of Vajrayana implements is made according to a fifteenth century design, and its type is rarely seen now outside museums. The Confederate Sanghas of Aro, under the guidance of Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen, have sought to preserve unique and wonderful outer forms of the Vajrayana – as the support for its inner practices. Ralzhig Pema Legden made it possible to obtain this set of vajra weapons and took on the duty of bringing them back to Britain with him in 1993 where they now reside – apart from having been taken to the Confederate Sanghas of Aro gö-kar-chang-lo ordinations in California in 1997.
