Vintage/Antique Mid-Century Bronze Tibetan Vajra Bell

Height: 9.4 inches = 14.2 cm

Diameter: 4.25 inches = 10.3 cm;

Weight: 976 g = 2 lb. 2.4 oz.

Not attracted to the magnet.

REFERENCE

The vajra is almost always paired with a ritual bell called a ghanta. 

The Tibetan term for the ritual bell used in Buddhist religious practices is "dril bu" (འབྲིལ་བུ).^[22] 

Priests and devotees ring bells during the rituals. 

Together these ritual implements represent the inseparability of wisdom and compassion.^[23]

The bell is the most commonly used of all musical instruments in tantric Buddhist ritual. 

The sound made by the bells is regarded as very auspicious and is believed to drive out evil spirits from where the ritual is being performed. When the bell is being used with the vajra its use is varied depending on the ritual or the mantras being chanted. 

During meditation ringing the bell represents the sound of Buddha teaching the dharma and symbolizes the attainment of wisdom and the understanding of emptiness. 

During the chanting of the mantras the bell and vajra are used together in a variety of different ritualistic ways 

to represent the union of the male and female principles.^[24]

The hollow of the bell represents the void from which all phenomena arise, including the sound of the bell, and the clapper represents form. 

Together they symbolize wisdom (emptiness) and compassion (form or appearance). 

The sound, like all phenomena, arises, radiates forth and then dissolves back into emptiness.^[25]