Obsidian Guardian Buddha Necklace | Thousand-Armed Guanyin for Rat

The guardian buddha for your birth year, carved in obsidian.

In Chinese Buddhist tradition each of the twelve animals is watched over by one of eight figures: Thousand-armed Guan Yin for the rat, Akasagarbha for the ox and tiger, Manjushri for the rabbit, Samantabhadra for the dragon and snake, Mahasthamaprapta for the horse, Vairocana for the goat and monkey, Acala for the rooster, and Amitabha for the dog and pig. The figure is fixed by the year you were born in, so it is one of the few pieces people buy for someone else without having to guess.

Obsidian is volcanic glass, long kept for protection and for holding the attention steady. Here the figure is polished bright against a frosted ground so it lifts off the black, and it hangs on a knotted cord of black beads with red accents, tied rather than clasped.

Bought most often for a child's first birthday, a parent turning sixty, or anyone entering their own animal year, when the tradition says a guardian is most needed.