Earth Treasure

Earth Treasures (sa gter). These are buried in rocks, statues, lakes, trees, and so on, usually in the form of a yellow scroll on which are written a few syllables in symbolic dakini script. These letters can only be deciphered by the terton to whom the legacy of the spiritual treasure belongs, and are unintelligible to anyone else. The scroll it often found within a treasure-box, that can be made of stone, jewel, etc.

These scrolls were sometimes written down by Padmasambhava himself or, according to his instructions, by Yeshe Tsogyal, his main disciple and spiritual consort, or by other disciples such as Yeshe Yang (ye shes dbyang), Denma Tsemang (ldan ma rtse mang), Legchin Nyima (legs byin nyi ma) or Vairotsana. These earth treasures represent the main corpus of the terma tradition.