Cham:
Performance of Mudra of Vajra Vairocana,
Chod, Shawa Cham and Mahai Cham by
the Drikung Kagyu Nuns from
Samtenling Monastery, India (Vajrayana Buddhism)
Cham is a sacred dance form associated with Tibetan Buddhism and the greater Tibetan region. Most Cham dances are performed with masks, elaborate costumes, drums and other traditional Tibetan musical instruments. Cham is considered to be a meditative practice as well as an offering to the Vajrayana deities. Some Cham dances also relate the exploits of past Buddhist masters; the dances themselves being yogic visions revealed through deep states of meditation. Every mask, costume, sound and gesture has spiritual significance and as such every performance is an opportunity for both dancers and observers to experience the union of “bliss and emptiness.” Cham traditions and lineages are being kept alive in areas such as Bhutan, Nepal and Ladakh.
The Many Faces of Buddhism brought nine Ladhaki nuns and two monks as performers to London. Samtenling Monastery sits in the Himalayan foothills of Dehra Dun, India, part of the sprawling exiled headquarters of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of monks and nuns. These nuns from Ladakh, Nepal and Tibet were taught by Sonam Kunga Rinpoche, 75, one of the three main oral transmission masters of the Drikung Kagyu order of Vajrayana Buddhism. A pillar of Ladakh’s unbroken lineage of Cham, which dates to the 13th century and is continually performed at a monastery built in the 10th century, he is a recognized master of ritual Cham dance, a well as the order’s meditation master for contemplative nuns.
Sonam Kunga Rinpoche accompanied the nuns as conductor of music and chant. He was assisted by a young Ladakhi reincarnate lama, Rigyal Rinpoche. There are fewer than 30 nuns worldwide who perform Cham, which has historically been performed by monks.
Cham dances are rites of tantric yoga, proscribed meditation and actualization practices. They stabilize meditation and visualization with movement and constitute a complete embodiment of the meditation deities. The nuns, seated in Lotus posture, also performed two meditation visualizations unique to the Drikung lineage. One features endlessly flowing symbolic and empowered hand gestures called mudra. The other makes use of drums and bells to induce a meditative state while instructions for the visualization are chanted.
