Khandro script

Khandro cypher

protection against demons

Khandro script (mKha’ ’gro – dakini) looks a little like Tibetan and a little like Sanskrit, but it is not a language that is readable in that way. There is no alphabet that could be obtained or language that could be studied to enable one to understand it.

Khandro script arises from the Sambhogakaya. The syllables can be like seed syllables out of which an entire and massive body of teaching can arise. gTérma often appears as khandro script which can only be read by the gTértön who discovers the gTér. Occasionally the script can be read by another gTértön, but generally it is only accessible to the gTértön who discovers it. Direct understanding of the script would arise spontaneously – or it would be completely incomprehensible.

This example of khandro script comes from ‘Demons and Oracles of Tibet’, by René D’Nebeski Wojkowitz, and offers protection against different kinds of demon. The script would have been woven into an amulet or used in other ritual practice to offer protection against:
  • Top line – injury caused by weapons,

  • 2nd line – illnesses such as leprosy,

  • 3rd line – sudden death,

  • 4th line – insanity,

  • 5th line – injury to health through ghosts,

  • 6th line – altitude sickness,

  • bottom line – malnutrition.