[lit. stretch + wood; var. rgyang shing / and rkyang shing / in the 1970 NT, and brkyang shing / in the 1903 NT]
Biblical: originally used for a board on which a criminal was stretched out to be tortured. As crucifixion was unknown to the Tibetans, and the precise shape of the "cross" [Gr. stauros] on which Jesus died is unknown, translators have adopted the name of this traditional Tibetan instrument of torture to denote the object on which Jesus died: 1) in a literal sense: khong gi rgyang shing 'khur phyir dbang byas so/ they forced him to carry the cross (Mk. 15:21), rgyang shing las mar bobs shig come down from the cross (Mk. 15:30); 2) in a figurative sense: bdag 'dzin spong la/,,rang gi rkyang shing 'khur/ deny himself and take up his cross (Mk. 8:34), rgyang shing gi bstan pa/ the message of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18), ma shi ka'i rgyang shing gi dgra bo/ enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18).
a cross; cross shape: rgya gram gyi dbus su gzhags pa/ crucified on the cross (ATM; 1762).