Shurangama Meditation Crystal Ball - Temple of the Most Venerable Phra Maha Kananamtham Panyathiwat.

According to legend, the Shurangama Sutra was discovered by Nagarjuna ,
then considered a national treasure by the Indian kingdoms,
so that its export was illegal.
The founder of the Chinese Tiantai school
heard about the Shurangama Sutra
and prayed every day facing the East so that the sutra would reach China.

After an initial unsuccessful attempt to report it,
he decided to hide it inside his arm, wrapped in silk and wax!
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Arriving in Canton, he extracted it from its hiding place,
hence its curious nickname of Bloodstained Sutra .

After directing the translation of the sutra, the Venerable is said to have returned to India
answer for his smuggling offense and have the border guard released
who had been held responsible for it.
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Offered to the Empress of China, the work was not distributed.
immediately because of a recent scandal about a fake sutra.
It was rediscovered many years later by the Chan master Shenxiu
while he resided in the imperial palace.

The tradition of Chinese Buddhism specifies that the Shurangama Dharani
is the last sutra to appear and that it will be the last to be destroyed
as the era of the future Buddha Maitreya approaches.
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Keeping this meditation crystal ball on your altar
engraved with a Shurangama pentacle
is considered by popular tradition as a very powerful protection
which comes to us directly from Buddha Sakyamuni
who had given it to his disciple Ananda
as the only protection in his practice of the Dharma
before becoming an Arahant .
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If you practice Tantric Dharma, it is very beneficial to have
this meditation ball with you during your meditation retreats
to remove obstacles to your meditations.
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Ancient tradition also says that this talisman protects against dangers,
, he transforms great calamities into ordinary accidents
(for example, instead of falling into the water and drowning, we simply get wet)
and that ordinary accidents just don't happen.
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Thanks to this amulet (and the recitation of the Shurangama mantra)
So there is always "more fear than harm" for Dharma practitioners.