Now that I've caught my breath, I want to write those articles about the Naadam festival. First the Tsam ritual dance. At the risk of folks thinking I am a universalist (I am not), the Tsam ritual's nearest equivalent in Christianity is something between a Passion play and the Divine Comedy, but not really. I am not an expert, but have spent a good deal of time making sure I don't say anything outright stupid in case a Tibetan Buddhist friend should visit this blog. If you are a TB friend and know I have misrepresented the Tsam, please leave a comment and I will make a correction. However, do know that our beliefs are in stark contrast to one another and that on a doctrine/practice level that will respectfully remain in tension. There are several different Tsam dances, and I am not sure which one I watched. Each dance as I understand highlights a different facet of Tibetan Buddhist doctrine and spirit activity. It all takes place on a square with five circles and in the end forms a living Mandala. Since there was no one there to explain all the imagery going on (these are secrets guarded by the priests and commoners are not allowed to know them), instead of a play by play I want to introduce you to the main characters.
First we have the skeletons. They enter and do a little dance to show they are in charge. If you are not supposed to be in the circle they remove you. Each character in the dance must pass between these two. Interestingly, the myth is they were a husband and wife who were in a state of deep meditation. A thief found them and skinned them alive, but since they were in a trance they never woke up and became buddahs. Just don't let a cranky church usher hear about that one.
Next: enter Kashin Khan (King of Kash) and his six boys. Why the boys were there I do not know. Two of them did wake the White Old Man from his nap, but otherwise they just paraded around with their dad. The king is a reincarnate character. A big part of the dance is the cycle of rebirth that Tibetan Buddhists and many other eastern religions believe. I witnessed people in the crowd praying to him throughout the dance. (Notice the woman on the right?)
According to the mongolian newspaper article I read on it, the image of a buddha in the dance invites and is recognized as the presence of the buddha.
Next, Jahmsaran (sp?). This wicked looking creature is . . . well . . wicked. Isn't it obvious? He's holding a human heart in his hand for crying out loud. BUT here is where that fuzzy Tibetan Buddhist yin yang comes into play. Good things are not ALL good, and bad things are not ALL bad. Each (in their belief) has an element of the opposing trait. Every good has something bad and vice versa. So this evil looking guy, as I understand, serves a purpose that is . . um . . good, sometimes. Well. . bad mostly, but in a way . . *>@&! . . never mind. Anyway, the heart in his hand means he can grant heart felt desires. I THINK he represents the antagonist in this case. He must be appeased (again, I think) in order for the bad in the karmic cycle to be un-badified. The reason he is so bad is he decided he was going to end sadness and make people happy all the time. WHAT?!? You got it. You see if everything is good, that's bad in Buddhism. So the worst thing you could decide to do is take away the bad, because that is what people stuck in the reincarnation cycle are here for, to have bad things happen. Get it? Now is the point where I know real tension exists between Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity, no matter how much the Dalai Lama wants to say we are all alike we are WAY different in how we view suffering.
Interesting? Good. This can sit for a bit and I'll do another article with the remaining cast later. Originally I told Laura I would just write a couple paragraphs and throw in some pictures. But I just CAN'T do that now. So, for now I am going to let this digest. Later I will introduce you to the black magician hero and the comedy relief. Later I will try to put in words what I think is the plot of this tsam.
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