Dr. Padmat’sho, Visiting Scholar at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, spoke at the center on Thursday about Padmasambhava, the monk hailed for popularizing Buddhism in Tibet during the 8th century, and “cham,” the ritualized celebration dance performed in his honor every year.
Padmat’sho, an Assistant Professor at Southwest University for Nationalities at Chengdu, in the Sichuan province of China, accompanied her talk with pictures she took at the cham, which was held at Gatuo (Katok) Temple in Kham, Tibet in 2004.
According to Padmat’sho, while Buddhism was first introduced to the region of Tibet in the fifth century, it was Padmasambhava that was responsible for the religion’s flourish.
“Padmasambhava popularized Buddhism in Tibet from the palace to the tent,” Padmat’sho said.
Since his death, Padmasambhava has attained a central spiritual standing in Tibetan Buddhism. On the tenth of each month, cham is performed to celebrate the monk’s importance, with special importance attached to the ritual in June. Padmat’sho explained that the ritual cham performed has been passed down since the 13th century.
Padmat’sho’s pictures were from the cham performed in Gatuo Temple in Kham, Tibet, where thousands of pilgrims gather every summer to take part in the ceremony.
As Padmat’sho explained, the entire celebration takes eight days.
“The first [six days] of the ritual involves offerings and reading scripture,” she said. “After the first six days the cham dance takes place twice, on the two subsequent days.”
Padmat’sho then explained the ritual dance in detail. According to her, the first day is a type of practice, preparing the mind and body of the monks for the ritual of the next day.
“The ritual reaffirms the belief and importance of Padmasambhava in Tibetan Buddhism,” she said.
The formal dance is broken down into different sections, each with different forms of dance, costume, masks, ritual, and acrobatics corresponding to each section’s meaning. While the meaning of the cham does not change from one day to other, on the second day the dancers wear masks, while on the first day the monks dance out of costume.
Steve Angle, Chair of East Asian Studies and Director of the Center for East Asian Studies, was pleased with the lecture. He was especially excited that the new wing of the center was being put to good use.
“We’re more able now to have fellows for more than a few months,” Angle said. “The added office and lecture space in the new wing made this lecture much easier to accommodate.”
Students expressed positive reactions to Padmat’sho’s talk.
“I knew very little about Tibetan Buddhism, so this was very informative,” said Hayley Stokar ’06.
Max Matthews ’09 agreed.
“[The cham] was very interesting to hear about,” said Matthews, who is currently taking Introduction to Buddhism.
Leave a Reply