Cham dance

The Black-Hat Drum Cham (Wylie:*zhwa nag rnga 'cham*,THL:*zhanak ngacham*),^[1]performed at theHonolulu Museum of Art.

Cham dance atLeh Palaceduring theDosmochefestival, 13 February 2018.

Thecham dance(Tibetan:འཆམ་,Wylie:'cham)^[2]^[3]is a lively masked and costumed dance associated with some sects ofTibetan Buddhismand Buddhist festivals. The dance is accompanied by music played bymonksusing traditional Tibetan musical instruments. The dances often offer moral instruction relating tokaruṇā(compassion) forsentient beingsand are held to bringmeritto all who perceive them.^[1]^[4]

Chams are considered a form ofmeditationand an offering to thegods.^[5]The leader of the cham is typically a musician, keeping time with a percussion instrument likecymbals,the one exception beingDramyin Cham,where time is kept usingdramyin.

The term "devil dance" was an early 20th century description of the performance, derived from Western perceptions of the costumes worn by performers.^[5]

Content

Chams often depict incidents from the life ofPadmasambhava,the 9th centuryNyingmapateacher, and other saints.^[6]

The great debate of theCouncil of Lhasabetween the two principal debators or dialecticians,MoheyanandKamalaśīlais narrated and depicted in a specific cham dance held annually atKumbum MonasteryinQinghai.^[7]One iteration of this dance is performed on the eve ofLosar,the Tibetan new year, to commemorate the assassination of the cruel Tibetan king,Langdarmain 841 CE by a monk calledLhalung Pelgyi Dorje.The monk, dressed in a black robe and a black hat, danced outside the palace until he was allowed to perform in front of the emperor, then assassinated him.^[8]It is a dance symbolising the victory of good over evil.^[9]

The Black Hat dance is aVajrakilayadance and is the dance most frequently depicted in paintings.^[10]The dance is performed by Buddhist monks and operates in two levels, to achieve enlightenment and to destroy evil forces. The dancers often hold a skull and scarf tied together and then attached to the hilt of apurba.^[8]

Localities

Bhutan

InBhutan,the dances are performed during the annualreligious festivalsortshechu,held in thedzongin each district. The Cham is performed by monks, sometimes nuns and villagers. TheRoyal Academy of Performing Artsis the main body which promotes the preservation of the culture of Cham. This honors Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) and celebrates his deeds through the performance of sacred dances. Since Guru Rinpoche was a fully enlightened being, he is extremely important in Bhutan and it is through his teachings that Bhutanese devotees are shown the true and fast path to enlightenment. These dances assist in cultivating faith and understanding of the Guru deeds, and as such both honor and educate the attendees.

India

Dances are performed during cultural and religious festivals in:

Lahaul and Spiti district
Sikkim
Dharamshala
Kalimpong
Darjeeling(Sangchen Dorjee Gompa)
Pedong,
Karnataka
Bylakuppe([Nyingma gompa/Golden temple])
Ladakh

Mongolia

Tsam (Mongolian:Цам) dance was not introduced to Mongolia until the early 19th century, however it rapidly gained popularity and visibility with celebrations such as the Tsam festival and the operaTale of the Moon Cuckoo.^[11]^[12]Tsam came to incorporate both tantric and older,shamanisticelements of dance. It became a significant part ofBuddhism in Mongoliabefore it was banned undercommunist rulein 1924. TheStalinist purges in Mongoliadestroyed over 700 monasteries, killed tens of thousands of Mongolian monks and lamas, and forcibly laicized thousands more monks. The mass murder of so much of Mongolia's monastic culture seriously threatened the tsam dance with extinction, as few practitioners survived the purges. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the introduction of a new constitution permitting religious practices, the practice and performance of tsam dancing has grown enormously. Many of the costumes and masks used for tsam dances survived Soviet purges of monasteries and temples by being buried, hidden, or stored in museums such as theChoijin Lama TempleMuseum.

Tibet

Tibetans usually perform chams to large audiences during theMonlam Prayer Festival.^[13]

References

^^a ^bPearlman, Ellen (2002).Tibetan Sacred Dance: a Journey into the Religious and Folk Traditions.Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. pp. 21, 32, 180.ISBN 978-0-89281-918-8.Retrieved16 October2011.
^"༈ རྫོང་ཁ་ཨིང་ལིཤ་ཤན་སྦྱར་ཚིག་མཛོད། ༼འཆ-༽"[Dzongkha-English Dictionary: "'CHA" ].Dzongkha-English Online Dictionary.Dzongkha Development Commission, Government of Bhutan. Archived fromthe originalon 29 July 2012.Retrieved11 November2011.
^"Tibetan-English-Dictionary of Buddhist Teaching & Practice".Diamond Way Buddhism Worldwide.Rangjung Yeshe Translations & Publications. 1996. Archived fromthe originalon 28 March 2010.Retrieved11 November2011.entry: 'cham.
^Clements, William M. (2006).The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife: Southeast Asia and India, Central and East Asia, Middle East.Vol. 2. Greenwood Press. pp. 106–110.ISBN 978-0-313-32849-7.Retrieved16 October2011.
^^a ^bSchrempf, Mona (1995). "From 'Devil Dance' to 'World Healing': Some Representations, Perceptions, and Innovations of Contemporary Tibetan Ritual Dances". In Korom, Frank J.; Steinkeller, Ernst (eds.).Proceedings of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies: Graz 1995.vol. 4. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 91–102.ISBN 370012659X.OCLC 37538399.
^Dancing on the demon's back: the dramnyen dance and song of Bhutan^{[permanent dead link]},by Elaine Dobson, John Blacking Symposium: Music, Culture and Society, Callaway Centre, University of Western Australia, July 2003
^Roccasalvo, Joseph F.(1980). 'The debate at bsam yas: religious contrast and correspondence.'Philosophy East and West30:4 (October 1980). The University of Press of Hawaii. Pp.505-520. Source:[1]Archived3 March 2016 at theWayback Machine(accessed: 17 December 2007)
^^a ^bPearlman, Ellen (2002).Tibetan sacred dance: a journey into the religious and folk traditions.Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions.ISBN 0892819189.
^"Lossar Festival".Archived fromthe originalon 20 January 2008.
^Chitipati/Shri Shmashana Adhipati (protector)- atHimalayan Art Resources
^Mroczynski, Mikaela (1 April 2008)."Art, Ritual, and Representation: An Exploration of the Roles of Tsam Dance in Contemporary Mongolian Culture".Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection.
^"Dancing Demons - Ceremonial Masks of Mongolia".sites.asiasociety.org.Retrieved3 September2021.
^"Backgrounder: Monlam Prayer Festival".Focus on Tibet.Xinhua.28 February 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 25 April 2012.Retrieved2 February2011.

External links

Description of Black Hat dance in Bhutan Archived22 May 2022 at theWayback Machine
Examples of Cham Dance
Video of Dance of the Ging Archived31 March 2022 at theWayback Machine

[Pearlman-1] Pearlman, Ellen (2002).Tibetan Sacred Dance: a Journey into the Religious and Folk Traditions.Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. pp. 21, 32, 180.ISBN 978-0-89281-918-8.Retrieved16 October2011.

[2] "༈ རྫོང་ཁ་ཨིང་ལིཤ་ཤན་སྦྱར་ཚིག་མཛོད། ༼འཆ-༽"[Dzongkha-English Dictionary: "'CHA" ].Dzongkha-English Online Dictionary.Dzongkha Development Commission, Government of Bhutan. Archived fromthe originalon 29 July 2012.Retrieved11 November2011.

[DWBDict-3] "Tibetan-English-Dictionary of Buddhist Teaching & Practice".Diamond Way Buddhism Worldwide.Rangjung Yeshe Translations & Publications. 1996. Archived fromthe originalon 28 March 2010.Retrieved11 November2011.entry: 'cham.

[Greenwood-4] Clements, William M. (2006).The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife: Southeast Asia and India, Central and East Asia, Middle East.Vol. 2. Greenwood Press. pp. 106–110.ISBN 978-0-313-32849-7.Retrieved16 October2011.

[Schrempf-5] Schrempf, Mona (1995). "From 'Devil Dance' to 'World Healing': Some Representations, Perceptions, and Innovations of Contemporary Tibetan Ritual Dances". In Korom, Frank J.; Steinkeller, Ernst (eds.).Proceedings of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies: Graz 1995.vol. 4. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 91–102.ISBN 370012659X.OCLC 37538399.

[DR-6] Dancing on the demon's back: the dramnyen dance and song of Bhutan^{[permanent dead link]},by Elaine Dobson, John Blacking Symposium: Music, Culture and Society, Callaway Centre, University of Western Australia, July 2003

[7] Roccasalvo, Joseph F.(1980). 'The debate at bsam yas: religious contrast and correspondence.'Philosophy East and West30:4 (October 1980). The University of Press of Hawaii. Pp.505-520. Source:[1]Archived3 March 2016 at theWayback Machine(accessed: 17 December 2007)

[tsd-8] Pearlman, Ellen (2002).Tibetan sacred dance: a journey into the religious and folk traditions.Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions.ISBN 0892819189.

[9] "Lossar Festival".Archived fromthe originalon 20 January 2008.

[10] Chitipati/Shri Shmashana Adhipati (protector)- atHimalayan Art Resources

[11] Mroczynski, Mikaela (1 April 2008)."Art, Ritual, and Representation: An Exploration of the Roles of Tsam Dance in Contemporary Mongolian Culture".Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection.

[12] "Dancing Demons - Ceremonial Masks of Mongolia".sites.asiasociety.org.Retrieved3 September2021.

[13] "Backgrounder: Monlam Prayer Festival".Focus on Tibet.Xinhua.28 February 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 25 April 2012.Retrieved2 February2011.

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