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Simdha Getul Rinpoche performed as Guru Rinpoche in Guru Tsechu Cham

Dharan, Nepal

Fri Nov 16 2018 18:30:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

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According to the dance ritual of Guru Tshegye Cham coinciding with the Guru Rinpoche day, senior monks of Jyasa Monastery performed the Guru Tshegye Cham (lama Dance) of 8 manifestation of Guru Rinpoche in which Simdha Getul Rinpoche has had performed the role of the Guru Rinpoche & foremost, in the presence of H.H. Kyabje Dudjom Sangye Pema Shepa Rinpoche and under his blessing in Dharan, Nyungne Lhakhang.

Lama Dance is not an ordinary dance. It is a sacred dance. It is a part of ritual which is generally performed at the end of nine days long ceremony called “Drupchen”.  It is said in the Tantra, that after you realize the equality between all the phenomena even the slightest movement of your body is Mudra (cham). 

 

“Generation Stage” is the practice of visualizing oneself as a deity of mandala through meditation and in Lama Dance; we visualize ourselves as the deity of Mandala through this generation stage. 

 

In 8th Century, the great Dharma King of Tibet, “Trisong Deutsen” invited Guru Padma Sambhava, the great accomplished master and the scholar Shantarakshita from India in order to subdue evil spirits and to establish and spread Buddhism in Tibet. Likewise, Lama Dance was initially originated from India and later on, flourished in Tibet in 9th Century. 

It was the time when Samye Monastery was just a work in progress. Samye Monastery is the 1st Monastery of Tibet where many scholars got together and translated the Buddhist scriptures and canons from Sanskrit into Tibetan. Guru Rinpoche flew in the air and performed “Vajra Body Movement “during the consecration of the 1st great Monastery of Samye. This is how Lama Dance was introduced for the first time in Tibet. Since then it has been practised and advanced with time under the guidance of “Visionary Experiences of Great Masters”.

 

Monks meditate when they are performing the Lama Dance. Such meditation uses various techniques of visualization but essentially, the performers have to imagine themselves in the form of deity. The deity is neither a creator god nor an independent entity but a manifestation of our ultimate nature which is wisdom. 

 

Every accessories and costumes used for the dances and rituals have a sacred quality.  Each one of them is symbolic which symbolizes the inner qualities of enlightenment. The magnificence of the music and the surroundings are not just a display of luxury, but a reminder of the splendor of meditation and of the primordial purity of all phenomena. 

 

There are three essential points that the dancers have to apply during the Lama Dance and the practice of these three essential points makes it a “Dancing Meditation”.

 

Firstly, he should prepare himself by having the right motivation, which means to have the “mind of enlightenment” the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. 

 

Secondly, he should concentrate and faithfully represent the positions and expressions of the deities of the Mandala while performing the dance.  He must recite the mantras without any interruption and in his mind; he must clearly and attentively visualize the deity that he is representing because it is not only the body that dances during the Lama Dance. 

 

Finally, he should dedicate the merit of what he has done so that he, himself, and the all beings in the universe may be liberated from suffering and it’s causes and attain Buddhahood. The benefit of dedicating your merit is like pouring a drop of water in the ocean, it lasts as long as the ocean does.  Visa Versa, not dedicating the merit is like a snowflake melting on a hot stone. It evaporates right away. 

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