S925 Silver Golden Light Mantra Bagua Ring

Anyone who has recited the Taoist morning and evening offices will know the Golden Light Mantra, one of the Eight Great Mantras. "Heaven and earth are the ancestral source, the ten thousand energies the root" are the first two lines; the rest is long and rhythmic, and is said to be for gathering the mind. Carving a mantra into jewellery is about being able to recall it, not about selling a talisman. If you really want to learn it, learn the whole thing — what is cut into a ring is only a few lines of reminder. Reciting is a matter of the mind, not of volume. The lists of the Eight Great Mantras vary slightly between schools; the Golden Light is always among them.

The outside of the ring carries the bagua. The eight trigrams run end to end, so any face you turn to continues into the next, with no obvious beginning and therefore no obvious break. The opening is left between two trigrams, deliberately offset by one sign so it does not look cut. There are two arrangements, the Earlier Heaven and the Later Heaven: the first is about correspondence, the second about sequence, and what you see on jewellery is mostly the Later Heaven order. Both are correct, they are simply used in different places. The eight trigrams are cut shallow; run a fingertip over them and they are almost flat.

The adjustable opening is the practical part. You do not have to measure the size exactly: it will go on an index or a middle finger, it will not slip off when fingers are thinner in winter, and one size covers three. When adjusting, hold both sides and close it slowly — do not squeeze it all the way in one go; silver springs back, and once over-compressed it will not open up again. The opening takes the stress, so do not lift heavy things or open bottles in it. The two ends are rounded off so they do not scratch.

The inside is polished and does not catch the skin, even worn for long stretches. Silver conducts heat, so it feels cold for a second when you first put it on, then you stop noticing. The mantra is incised, the cuts shallow; daily rubbing rounds the edges and the characters actually soften. Do not wear the face inward: the palm sweats most, sweat and grime collect and go black, and it is a nuisance to brush out. The inner edge has a shallow bevel so it sits against the base of the finger without pressure.

If you like the cuts crisp, brush lightly with a soft brush and a little neutral detergent, rinse, dry, and do not leave water marks. Worn long, the inside brightens while the outside darkens; the contrast is rather good. Silver is like people — it only acquires a look of its own with use. The face is narrow, so only a few lines of the mantra could be cut.