Lake-dwelling Medicinal Spirits

Lake-dwelling Medicinal Spirits (mtsho sman/ 'tsho sman)

• A group of five, seven or nine female spirits of the sman mo class, who dwell in lakes, and who are differentiated from the sky-dwelling medicinal spirits (nam mkha'i sman mo), the earth-dwelling medicinal spirits (sa'i sman mo), and the hybrid serpentine-medicinal spirits (klu sman). In general, the sman mo are a category of indigenous Tibetan spirits, to whom medicinal gtor ma offerings are made in order to appease their inclination to bewitch the minds of females who stray into remote locales. Foremost among them are the Five Sisters of Long Life (tshe ring mched lnga), who are embodied in the five main snow peaks of the Everest range. The medicinal spirits are said to have been bound under an oath of allegiance by Padmasambhava at gSil-ma in gTsang. See bDud-'joms Rin-po-che, NSTB, pp. 771-774, and Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet, pp. 198-202. GD (from the Glossary to Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings)