One-pronged Vajra

[pemachophel]

Can anyone tell me anything about the use of a one-pronged vajra (dorje tse-chig) in Vajrayana Buddhism?

Thanks

[dzogchungpa]

Some references from Beer's "Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs":

p. 234:
A single-pointed vajra represents both the central chan-
nel as Mt Meru's central axis, and the union of all duality
symbols conceived of as non-dual. These include wisdom and
compassion, emptiness and bliss, absolute and relative truths.

p. 239:
The deity Kalachakra is described as wearing a long rosary of
single-pointed vajras, although iconographically Kala-
chakra's rosary is more often depicted as a long chain of
five-pronged vajras with a crossed vajra at its lower centre.

p. 284:
The sharp point of Yamantaka's harpoon- which is de-
scribed as a single-pointed vajra - symbolises penetrative
insight ...

[jmlee369]

In the Ngagrim Chenmo series, Lama Tsongkhapa stated in accordance with the Susiddhi Tantra that when doing mantra recitation during a Kriya practice, a wooden single-pronged vajra carved and blessed by the practitioner should be held in the right hand (if I'm remembering this correctly). While I have yet to see this in practise in the Tibetan tradition, I have a strong suspicion that the Shingon tradition maintains it.

[pemachophel]

Yeah, I've seen one=pronged dorjes at Shingon temples in Japan. However, recently, a Tibetan Teacher gave me one. So that's the reason for my original query. In four decades, I had not seen one of these in Tibetan Buddhism before.