The Cham Dance and the Seams of the Seasons
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2005
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52
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Trip End
Ongoing
Dongzhulin Monastery,
China
Monday, October 31, 2005
Ancient knowledge says that every seven years, the human body is completely recycled. The brain, the bones, the flesh, the blood still remain yet each element and molecule will be renewed through eating, drinking, and excretion.
Every day, new thoughts enter our mind. Our ideas change.
The moon waxes and wanes, the north cools, the south warms, the earth rotates.
Change is inevitable.
During the Seams of the Seasons, this change heightens and our connection to birth and death is heightened. During the Seams of the Seasons, the leaves change colors and fall to the ground; on the twigs, new buds are set, waiting until the spring thaw. For the twig as well as the Celts, it is a time of birth and death, leaf fall and setting bud. Seams are the weakest point in the fabric, where water can leak through. In Celtic tradition, the metaphorical Seams of the Seasons are the time when ghosts and spirits can most easily enter the physical world...or someone's soul.
Thus, we dress like ghosts and ghouls ourselves, in order to trick the ghosts into thinking we are not a good living soul to possess--Halloween--my favorite holiday, the Celtic New Year. I enjoyed the Halloween pictures of friends this year dressed like ears of corn and other hilarious costumes.
In Tibetan Buddhism, a ghost world also exists, along with a hell world.
01 The Wheel of Life
These worlds await some Buddhists upon their human death, if their karma is bad. Along the same lines, for those with good karma, Nirvana may be attainable. These worlds and Nirvana are explained in the Wheel of Life, a thangka painting (see photographs). Beings are recycled within the Wheel of Life until they achieve Nirvana and are freed from sorrow, birth, and death.I awoke on Halloween morning to a funeral outside my window. The night before, a man had electrocuted himself. The funeral was held at the site of death. All night friends of the deceased, a Chinese, kept vigil next to a warm fire on a cold Mischief Night. Laughing pierced the crisp air--death was not seen as entirely sorrowful even to the Chinese.
Then I remembered the Tibetan Book of the Dead, one of the principal Tibetan texts available to the Western World. This book is also called the Bardo Thodol and describes the phenomenal existence between death and birth. I carried this book with me, a gift from my friend Pete before I left Martha's Vineyard. In his Oak Bluffs apartment kitchen, after a night of playing music, eating good food, and drinking wine and beer, we talked philosophy. He presented me the book; I was honored and read it once I reached Tibetan soil. This book has extreme meaning on Halloween or when watching leaves fall and buds set, or anytime when alive (or dead).
The book is also extremely relevant when watching a Cham dance, a holy monastery dance. Cham brings villagers to the monastery, in order to learn about death: "we learn not to be afraid of death," said one woman from Zhongdian during Cham.
02 Buddhist Hell
Cham takes place on the last two days of the lunar month--the new moon, the end of a cycle, the time of darkness and rebirth. A few days later, a sliver of a waxing moon would appear, physically describing the cycle of the Bardo. This year Halloween and Cham were on the same day--this cycle and the Seams of the Seasons were accentuated.At Donzhulin Monastery, we were guests of the ailing High Lama to film the Cham ceremony in the courtyard.
In the center of the courtyard, the stage was drawn in chalk, a large circle guarded by wrathful, disguised monks with large clubs to keep children, villagers, or videographers out of the holy circle (I was clubbed, albeit gently and to much laughter). Yin and yang symbols decorated the circle. The villagers surrounded the circle, dressed in traditional clothing and thumbing their prayer beads. Monks played cymbals, drums, long horns, and thighbone trumpets, giving offerings of sound to the dancers, who arrived one-by-one with their ornate masks of deities.
Each deity also arrives one-by-one in the Bardo. They are there to help you to achieve Nirvana. Don't be deceived, however--Tibetan Buddhism is not a polytheistic religion. Each of these deities are considered imaginary, as is all existence. These deities are found within ourselves and are psychological representations of aspects of our personalities and of existence. Despite their imaginary nature, they are the ultimate teachers.
Finally, the dances were completed; the time for the unveiling of the thangka had come.
03 Bones and Trash
Thangkas are religious paintings, drawings, or scrolls. This thangka was of Yama, the God of Death, Lord of Hell. As the monks entered their monastery, prepared the thangka, and played music, villagers began to bow and pray. Then chaos broke loose.
All the villagers stormed the monastery. They pushed the disguised, wrathful guard monks aside, overwhelming them with numbers. The guards of the monastery were helpless. The thangka was unveiled, showing Yama in all his fury: "hell is no fun so you'd better get some good karma in this lifetime." The crowd, although frenzied, were reverent, and the guards were amused with the spiritual excitement, carrying out their hopeless duty with humor.
Thus, when you see the light at the end of the tunnel, do not worry: it is predicted in the Bardo Thodol and called the State of Experiencing of Death. This is followed by the arrival of 108 deities, both peaceful and wrathful in the State of Experiencing of Reality. Here your karma is tested as the deities appear before you. Buddhists believe that you will see the symbols of your religion during this time, whether Christian or Hindu, Jesus or Shiva. The final stage is the State of Rebirth Consciousness, when a new physical body is found in the womb.
This process lasts 49 days, a sacred number, although enlightened humans may reach Nirvana much sooner. These aspects of the Bardo are some of the lessons offered visually and musically in the Cham dance.
Also, when the leaves fall from the trees during the Seams of the Seasons, look closely and you will see the buds of spring have already been set.
Happy New Year, Happy Halloween, and Happy Cham!
Comments
nice one
hey sweet,
very nicely told. thanks for sharing.
lovya
storming the temple
what a fabulous clip!