srin

barbarous, savage; vampire, worm. Syn 'bu [RY]

insect/ worm [IW]

ring finger, vampire, worm = 'bu [IW]

SA srin po, srin bu, srin mo [JV]

Shot for srin po. Skt. rākṣasa or rakṣas; Pāli rakkhasa; Tib. སྲིན་པོ་, sinpo; Wyl. srin po. Rākṣasa-s are 1) a type of Asura or Demigod (according to the earliest sources in the Pāli Canon and also ancient Hindu literature), and are sometimes called 'ogres'. They are also somewhat similar to 'trolls', in terms of their fearsome appearance and tendency to eat humans. The earliest Indian descriptions of their appearance depicted them as ugly, fierce-looking and enormous creatures, with two fangs protruding from the top of the mouth and having sharp, claw-like fingernails. They are shown as being mean, growling like beasts, and as insatiable cannibals that could smell the scent of human flesh. Some of the more ferocious ones were shown with flaming red eyes and hair, drinking blood with their palms or from a human skull (similar to representations of vampires in later Western mythology). Generally they could fly, vanish, and had magical powers of illusion, which enabled them to change size at will and assume the form of any creature. However, they are not necessarily 'demons' nor 'spirits', despite sharing some attributes with them; and some of them are known to be quite virtuous, such as the the group of young female Rākṣasa-s (rākṣasī-s) in Chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra, wherein they vow to uphold and protect the Lotus Sutra and also teach magical dhāraṇī-s to protect followers who also uphold the Sutra; 2) a kind of malignant 'spirit' that eats human flesh; 3) one of the 'Eight Classes of Gods and Demons' (lha srin sde bgyad); 4) the 'cannibal savages' inhabiting the south-western continent of Cāmara (rnga yab gling), where the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain (zangs mdog dpal ri), the Pure Realm of Padmasambhava, resides; 5) at timesRākṣasa-s also refers to the unruly and untamed expression of ignorance and disturbing emotions. [Erick Tsiknopoulos]