Monk Dancers of Tibet

by Matthieu Ricard

In the midst of the devastation that has been wrought on their culture, the monk dancers in the Shechen monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, are devoted to preserving the sacred dances central to the Tantric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The dances, which originated in India and flourished for centuries in Tibet, are teaching stories—each mask, costume, movement, and gesture has a specific significance and embodies the values of Buddhism. The dances are the monks' spiritual gift to the lay community.

The origin of the sacred Buddhist dance, or cham, goes back to the ninth century, when Guru Padmasambhava introduced Buddhism to Tibet. Through the ages, the practice has been advanced by great masters whose visionary experiences enriched and enhanced the dance forms. The sacred dances were then transmitted as accurately as possible by the masters' disciples from generation to generation.

The dances are now preserved in exile in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and have been presented in the West, by the monks of Shechen and other Tibetan monasteries, in the same spirit of sharing a profound inner experience. In vivid, full-color photos and illuminating text, the well-known author and photographer Matthiew Ricard reveals the painstaking preparations for and meanings behind the dances, as well as the intriguing history of this uniquely colorful teaching practice.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, trained as a molecular biologist before moving to Nepal to study Buddhism. He is the author of The Monk and the Philosopher (with his father, Jean-François Revel); The Quantum and the Lotus (with Trinh Thuan); Happiness; The Art of Meditation; Altruism: The Power of Compassion; A Plea for the Animals; and Beyond the Self: Conversations between Buddhism and Neuroscience (with Wolf Singer). He has published several books of photography, including Motionless Journey and Tibet: An Inner Journey, and is the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama.

Reviews

[Mesoscope · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short book features some attractive photos and brief introductory text exploring the under-analyzed world of Tibetan monastic dances. Unfortunately, the accompanying text is written at the beginner's level and details the very basics of Tibetan Buddhist culture, which has been better covered in greater depth in countless other sources. Consequently, not much room is left for a discussion of the dances themselves, and what we get there is presented with the didacticism of the zealous believer.

I hoped from more from the author, but the book contains a lot of pious platitudes about the simple, enlightened culture of Tibet. No attempt is made to explore the dances with any sophistication in historiography or anthropology, and the comparative perspective is entirely lacking. This is all the more unfortunate, given the extremely wide distribution of ritual masked dances in numerous cultures that bear substantial similarity to the autochthonic strata of Tibetan ritual life, and striking parallels can be observed in traditions as far flung as the Pueblo ritual dances of the Navajo and the Feast of the Lupercal in classical Rome. No one familiar with these other traditions, for example, will be surprised, as the author apparently is, by the appearance of bawdy clown-enforcers who keep the spectators in line.

Like the text, the images embody a kind of idealized glossy-calendar-view of Tibetan culture, all smiling children in sparkling robes and peace. At a certain point, the student of Tibetan culture tires of such things, but then, I suppose it's the stock and trade of publishers like Shambhala.

This book is not without its interest, however, providing as it does at least a basic overview of the dances, their symbology, and related topics of interest. For example, I was intrigued by the all-too-brief discussion of Tibetan musical notation.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward explanation of Tibetan dances with extraordinary pictures from Tibet in the late 80's and Kathmandu in the 90's.

[Megan]

Amazing pictures