#buddhist dance

[arjuna-vallabha]

Kandyan dance from Sri lanka

[no1chineselearning]

Buddhist Dance

宋词欣赏（七）--菩萨蛮·哀筝一弄《湘江曲》

张先

  哀筝一弄《湘江曲》，

声声写尽湘波绿。

纤指十三弦，

细将幽恨传。

  当筵秋水慢，

玉柱斜飞雁。

弹到断肠时，

春山眉黛低。

  《菩萨蛮》—词的意思

用哀愁的古筝演奏《湘江曲》，在悠扬的声声音符中，似乎看到了湘江春水的绿色。纤细的手指在十三根弦上随意挥洒，将幽怨的怅恨尽情诉说。

面对酒宴，眼如秋水般明眸慢转，琵琶上的玉柱似一行斜飞的秋雁。当弹到情深意切的时候，怅惘之情慢慢地爬上她那微蹙的黛眉之间，显得更加楚楚可怜。

  Buddhist Dance

  On the expressive zheng “Song of the Xiangjiang Rill” she plays.

At first the limpidity each note lively portrays,

Then in detail the pent-up grief she does impart;

Her nimble fingers on the thirteen strings dart—

  Till the waters in front slow down for the plight,

And wild geese from Jade Hill droop in their flight.

At last she strikes up the most plaintive strain,

When the mountains seem to knit their brows for pain.

If you want to learn more about Chinese culture, please check http://www.no-1chineselearning.com

[gardenofthefareast]

Buddhist Trance Dance This is a dance performed by young monks at Ganden Sumtseling Gompa, a monastery located north of the city of Zhongdian (Shangri-La) in Yunnan province on the southeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The dance begins with one monk emerging from the main temple. He performs a routine that initially faces the temple, then faces all the directions of the wind, and then spirals around a central point where there is a dark quilt and wooden square (these symbolize a demon). His dance eventually accelerates and incorporates jumping movements, and in its finale dozens of other monks join in to perform the circular dance around the quilt, until in the end they are all crowded around its center. The dance concludes with couples of monks taking leaps towards the temple, praying towards its entrance, praying away from its entrance, and then jumping inside. Altogether this takes about three hours. The dance is performed annually, during a ritual where the monks dress in elaborate costumes and masks and dance around a large effigy of the demon (rather than a quilt). The purpose of the dance is to contain the angry spirit of the demon, possibly to recreate the Tibetan myth of the subjugation of an angry Himalayan goddess by an Indian monk, which popularized the monk and allowed for the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. This video is an amalgamation of clips recorded during the initial monk's rehearsal for the ritual.