The Dancing Monks of Tibet (Tibet)TIBETAN BUDDHIST TRADITION
Tibetan Buddhism, following in the wake of the ancient Bön tradition of Tibet and coloured with Shamanism, is part of the Mahayana tradition, still called "the Greater Vehicle." Until the Chinese invasion, the country was covered with thousands of monasteries where meditation and reading of sacred texts made up the greater part of the monks' days. During the great annual festivities, sacred dances were executed out by the monks. These codified, ritual dances were performed in order to display symbolic representations, full of powerful imagery, of various aspects of the Tibetan avatars of the Buddha, apparitions of Boddhisattvas, spectacular forms of the ego and its disguises, visions of celestial deities, etc. The origin of the sacred dances, or Tcham goes back to the coming of Buddhism in Tibet, when in the 9th century Guru Padmasambhava made it flourish in the Country of Snow. This relationship of Buddhism and dance is very ancient since it is said that the Buddha manifested himself to his disciples in the form of divinities who danced in a thousand majestic ways. In the 13th century, Guru Chöng had a vision of the Paradise of Padhmasambhava, with its eight manifestations and a multitude of celestial beings who danced in his presence. Following this vision, he established the "Festival of the Tenth Day" which commemorates, with dances, the coming of Buddhism to Tibet. Later, the repertoire of these dances was greatly enriched and enlivened by the addition of "visions"of the great sages of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, which continually brought new life to the practice of the dancers. Within the context of a sacred art, the renewal was not the fruit of a personal intervention or an artistic adventure, but of a profound spiritual realisation opening the doors to a great visionary richness. The role of the disciples was then to transmit the content of these dances in the most accurate way possible. The annual Festival traditionally takes place in Tibet the tenth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar (June/July) and is one of the great events of the year. Two days of dancing conclude the long rituals of prayers and meditation, and bring together thousands of faithful. Following the invasion of Tibet by China, more than 6000 monasteries were destroyed and a million Tibetans perished. The libraries were burnt or thrown into rivers, statues smashed or melted down to make rifle barrels. The monastery of Sheshen, founded in the 18th century in eastern Tibet was not spared this sad destiny. In 1983 the Anunal Festival of Sacred Dance was re instigated at Shechen in Nepal, then in Tibet in 1985. A master of dance and a master of song were able to come from Tibet and spend several years in Katmandu in order to re-establish the choreographic and musical tradition that had given the Monastery of Shechen its reputation. The sacred dances of Tibet are the expression of a spiritual
sharing and also the witness of a people. They allow us to discover
an extraordinary aspect of Tibetan culture, an integral part of
world patrimony which is threatened with extinction. Website: www.moinesdanseursdutibet.com |
