Tibetan Sacred Dance - A Brief Introduction
by Lea Terhune
Sacred dance in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, then, holds many mysteries. Some of the characters who appear in the course of the lama dances, or chain, have an origin so obscure that even the dancers are not completely sure of their meaning. Other characters are obviously figures out of Buddhist tales and tantra, tantra being the practices that are found in the collection of Buddhist literature. Demons, yogis, nature spirits, and animals are all represented to illustrate the course of the prayer ceremony in progress.
The lama dances at Sherab Ling Monastery commenced in 1988, when they ushered in the Tibetan Earth Dragon year. Though the dances are a recently established annual event at Sherab Ling, the tradition is an ancient one. It is the continuation of the Palpung lineage of sacred dance. Due to the political situation in Tibet, the practice was interrupted for thirty years. In 1986 the dance master, or champon, 74 years old at the time, was brought from Palpung Monastery in Tibet to Sherab Ling in order to train the Sherab Ling monks in the Palpung lineage of cham. He had known the previous Tai Situpa, Situ Pema Wangchuk Gyalpo, and had danced at Palpung before it was destroyed.
The year and a half after the arrival of the venerable champon was a busy time for the 35 monks who were being trained in sacred dance. Not only did they practice for several hours in the evenings, but also they spent their days preparing all of the costumes, masks and props required for the dances. This was no simple task, as no costumes survived from Palpung and everything had to be made from scratch. The monks painstakingly made all of the beautiful brocades and masks that are now worn at the pre Losar ceremonies during their training period under the direction of the dance master from Palpung.
One of the most important celebrations in the Palpung calendar was the nine day prayer ceremony and dance of the great protector Mahakala. This usually occurs on the last days of the year, just prior to Losar. It is essential to purify the obstacles of the old year and invoke the aid of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas in the new one. The long Mahakala prayer ceremony, or sadhana, is considered one of the most efficacious means of purification. The ceremony and its symbolism revolve around the theme of purification: the chief and central feature of the dance is the actual cutting through - and into pieces - an effigy that represents the accumulation of impurities.
The Mahakala sadhana begins in the shrine room seven days before the dances begin. It goes on continuously, day and night, with the older monks taking shifts during the night. The first day of the dances falls at the end of the week, the penultimate day of the long prayer ceremony. This is the day the dancers go through a sort of rehearsal to prepare for the full costume masked dances on the following day. The monks dance in partial costume, dressed in handmade brocade hoots, jackets, ceremonial aprons and white scarves. They dance from morning until evening, going through exactly the same performance that they will execute the next day in costume. It is not as easy to tell what dance is going on without the costumes, but it is nonetheless interesting to observe, as different aspects of the dancers’ skill can be seen without the distracting brilliant brocades and obscuring masks. When the monks don their elaborate gear on the second day, the non-participants can more easily identify the dances, which are done in a particular order. All the props are used and the dancers are attired as gorgeously coloured animals, demons, protectors and members of the spirit world. They also appear as the splendid tantrikas, or Black Hat dancers, who represent the mystical adepts.
Earthy humour is part of the Tibetan worldview, and the dances are usually preceded by the antics of clowns, who chase each other, take pratfalls, chase dogs and children, or mock oblivious respectable gentlemen who happen to be passing within their range. They roam around during the dances, as well, and entertain during the intervals.
The dances coincide with the stages of the sadhana that has been in progress all week. On the first day of the dances the principal celebrants move outdoors, in front of the shrine room. The gyaling, kangling and rattung, the horns; the damaru, or hand drum; and the bells provide the ritual music that will accompany the dancers. The lama dance is, in itself; a form of sadhana, each dance depicting a phase of the great prayer to Mahakala that purifies the negativity accumulated in the previous year. As with any prayer ritual, it begins with offerings, continues with prayers to protectors and celestial beings, and proceeds at last to the invocation of the supreme bodhisattva to whom the prayers are addressed, and to whom requests are made — in this case the great protector, Mahakala. Since Mahakala is the defender of those who are dedicated to the Buddha Dharma, the prayers are for removal of obstacles as well as for protection from enemies of Dharma.
The dances commence with the offering ceremony. This is in the form of a solo dance by the dance master, in the traditional costume of the tantric master, who makes the prescribed offerings in dance and gesture. He also defines the sacred space, or mandala, for the ritual. After the champon completes the offering, there follow a number of short dances: the dramatic Masters of the Cemetery Dance, the Dance of the Deer and Yak and the Dance of the Four Maras. The champon returns to perform an elaborate solo dance in which he demonstrates the various implements used by the protector Mahakala to vanquish enemies of Dharma: hooks, chains, a lasso, a curved knife and so forth. It is a strenuous dance, which was performed the first time at Sherab Ling by the remarkably agile septuagenarian dance master from Palpung. It is during this dance that a small effigy in the form of a corpse is produced and laid before the large thread mandala that has been carried out to the courtyard. This effigy symbolises the defilements to be purified by the power of Mahakala, Mahakali and their minions. Several dances follow the champon’s dance. The Lords of the Four Directions descend into the courtyard to perform their dance. This is followed by the Dance of the Four-Armed Mahakala and Retinue, which includes Mahakali and the dharma protectors. The last masked dance is the Deer Dance, an impressive dance that makes great demands on the dancer, and in which a good dancer can show his skill. A retinue of animals and protectors accompanies the Deer. It is the climactic dance in which the effigy of defilements is destroyed, the initial coup de grace being given by the Deer, closely followed by his retinue, each of whom delivers a blow according to his fashion. The dances conclude with the Black Hat Dance, the dismantling of the huge thread mandala, and its removal in procession by the tantrikas, The mandala, the pieces of the effigy, and purificatory tormas - offerings made of roasted barley flour, butter, cheese, dried fruit and chang - are taken out to the hillside to be disposed of by animals and the elements. When the monks return they perform a special fire ritual, during which a large bonfire is built, and the last of the old year’s defilements symbolically consumed.
There are always questions about the lama dances that are difficult to answer, such as where the Black Hats worn in the ceremony had their origin. The origin of the hats is so far unknown, though they are universally used in Tibetan sacred dance, in Buddhist and bonpo traditions alike. In former times the dances formed a part of secret ritual and were not open to public view, It is only in the last 400 years that the lama dances evolved into part of a festival for the general community, lay as well as religious. Many monasteries built outside of Tibet after 1959 have revived the tradition of lama dance as it has been passed down in their various lineages. In Tibetan sacred dance, generally speaking, the same themes recur, as the liturgy and traditions are much the same from monastery to monastery with variations in style. The subject of the dances will also vary according to the feast being celebrated. Tashi Jong, for instance, is well known for the Guru Rinpoche dances that are performed each year during the second Tibetan month. Rumtek Monastery has lama dances following the Tsurphu tradition, which are held at Losar and early summer.
Head lamas and scholars have, through the years, composed new dances based on the old themes. In the case of the Palpung tradition, many dances were composed by previous Tai Situpas, particularly Situ Chokyi Jungne, the eighth Tai Situpa. Often one of the high lamas of the monastery participates as the tantric master in one of the dances.
The purpose of the dance sadhana is, ultimately, realisation. All the necessary components of yogic practice —purification, mandala offering, invocation of protectors, mantra and yidam practice —are all present in the dances. The dazzling outer display is designed to mirror an inner state of consciousness. We are reminded of defilements and the stringent measures needed to overcome them. It has been said that the bow in the hand of the tantric master represents ultimate truth, and the arrow represents relative truth. The play of illusory existence is described in the course of the dance, under the tent, on a crisp winter day.
