Sunday, April 28, 2013

Shambhala Arts: Sacred Dance & Magical Movement

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DANCE...."If there is no aggression, that brings joy, openness, dance!"..(Trungpa: 1996..pg 52)...

D.H. Lawrence @ Lobo Ranch, near Taos, New Mexico.....July 1924.....""To tell the truth I am sick to death of the monotheistic string......It has become monomaniac. I prefer the pagan many gods, and the animistic version. Here at this ranch in Taos, looking west over the desert, one knows that all of our Pale-Faced and Hebraic monotheistic insistence is a dead letter....the soul won't answer any more. Here we have a camp under the hanging stars, and we sit with the Indians around the fire, and they sing till late into the night, and sometimes we dance the Indian thread dance.....".....Lawrence's primary literary effort was to re-sacralize the world, to awaken in his readers their long lost power to recognize the sacred in themselves and in the living environment....."

DANCE..."These (Shangshung) incantations are thought to develop spiritual power, especially in the form of a dance. There were some visualizations...meant to be combined with the incantation and dance practice." (Trungpa...1978)

"Lasya is the bodhisattva of dance, she is more performer than dancer, the offering goddess who displays the beauty and dignity of the body." (Trungpa: 1975..pg 18)...

"The term Lasya, in the context of Hindu mythology, describes the dance performed by Goddess Parvathi as it expresses happiness and is filled with grace and beauty. She is believed to have danced the Lasya in response to the male energy of the cosmic dance of Tandava performed by Lord Shiva. In a literal sense, Lasya means beauty, happiness and grace....The Indian classical music terminology talam has been etymologically derived from the union of the dances of both Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati (Tandavam and Lasyam). The expression of happiness and joy in dance is also termed as Lasyam......".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasya

"Gurdjieff's work with the music of circles and the state reached in dance was very closely connected with his knowledge of the Wheel of Time. If done correctly, the Wheel of Time will begin to spin, and the dancer's body becomes the instrument leading to the sacred gates of Hurqalya, which is the Sufi name for Shambhala." (Kharatidi: 1996..pg 218)...

'While performing the ecstatic dance, the Pawo rings the bell (dril bu) with the left hand and brandishes the drum (rNga chung) in the right." (Nebesky: 1952..pg 151)...

"The tamarisk walls were lined with hundreds of people. With mincing steps, the Tibetan girls would walk to the center of the hall and when the music (wooden drums and fantastic fiddles) started, she would begin to dance, using both skill and charm, and with an exaggerated coyness, sing a love song into the white cuff of her long sleeve....he was able to rise and dance before her in the difficult, stilted and dignified classical Tibetan style." (Clark: 1954...pg 98)....

"a Mongol dancer danced the legendary 'Flying Crane Dance' and another the 'Nomad Dance'" (Clark: 1954..pg 334)...

"they made many offerings of song and dance. They performed the great Kagyu folk dance."..

"Tsa lung Trul khor (lit. "magical movement instrument, channels and inner breath currents") known for brevity as Trul khor (lit. "magical instrument" or "magic circle;" Sanskrit: adhisāra) is a Himalayan tantric discipline which includes breathwork (or pranayama), meditative contemplation (or dhyana) and precise dynamic movements (or Body work) to centre the practitioner and to engender the body-mind precision of a keened instrument. "Lung" or "Tsa lung" is the Tibetan term for Qi and Prana (spiritual energy).".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trul_khor

"Dances of the Rio Grande Pueblos......The dance is a part of a long ceremony, which may include visits to secret shrines in the mountains, days of secret ritual in the kivas or in the society rooms, and the public finale in the dance. Even the dance may be secret; probably the most important dances always are. In that case they are performed in bidden places or in the plaza, which is then protected from intruders by guards posted along all roads. In a few places, as at Cochiti and at Jemez, white people are permitted to witness certain dances in the kivas. Dancers usually fast for four days before the dance....During this time the society altar is built, costumes for the dance are made or refreshed, prayers are chanted, and prayer-plumes are made ceremonially. Prayer-plumes are small sticks, painted and decorated with feathers, often laid on with a skill which a milliner might envy."...Dancing Gods, by Erna Fergusson, [1931]....http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/sw/dg/dg04.htm

The third warrior, arose wearing a white gown and holding in his right hand a golden mace. He spun, dancing. When he spun to the right it was like a tiger stalking, when he turned to the left it was like a snow lion shaking his turquoise mane. He danced to the pinnacle of the sky and to the depths below the earth. In his dance he created; first the dry land of the world, then water - - the nectar which banishes death, then fire - - the heat of the cosmos, then wind - - the movement of emptiness.

He never walked but he leapt, his running was like a charge. Without a trumpeter, the winding of the trumpet was heard; without a drummer, there was a rolling of drums. On the solid earth he danced whirling. Whirling right he performed the dance of the primordial sage; whirling left he did the dance of the wrathful goddess. Then he danced in the movement of the nine steps of the jackal. He moved across the sea of clouds like fine otter dashing after fish.

In his right hand he held a flame which illuminated the threefold world, in his left a watercrystal mirror, and he danced on a throne of light. He radiated bright white rays, scarlet fire and magnificent flashes of light and flew like a violent eagle chasing its prey into the depths of fathomless space, as though the profound wisdom of inner and outer space were one creation - - thus he flew. He created the sun, a ball of firecrystal shooting out tongues of flame, powerfully dispelling darkness, its heat banishing cold, its creativity bring forth vegetation on the earth. Then he created the moon out of watercrystal as an expression of love. Its cooling rays quiet the mind. Then he created the stars, some blue and beautiful, some white and clear, some red and outstanding, some green and sending out rays. They were like diamonds inlaid on a blue sapphire. Then the other warriors gathered around him and sang a song of praise, showering him with flowers. They circumambulated him right and left.

The warrior danced in the eight directions. He created God's tree, the cedar; then the people's tree, the rhododendron; then the tree of the sea-gods, the tamarisk; then the tree of the fierce gods, the neem; then the demon's tree, the pines. And thus he created all the trees, so that in some places there were beautiful smells of God's trees, in others the beautiful flowers of the peoples tree, in others the beauties of the tree of the sea-gods, and in others the powerful shade of the demon's trees. Some trees expanded their roots; others expressed beauty in their branches, creating shade with their leaves; some trees became tall and impressive to look upon from a distance; some twisted and bent as if dancing.

She looked forward and saw the unceasing play of luminosity. She looked down and saw the spontaneous display of the fascinating world and the mirage of existing non-existence. She saw the nature of this as a magical play of appearances. Her lips were like flower petals, slightly smiling; her eyes shone like pearls, gazing peacefully. She sang a song of the cosmic Ah, high pitched but melodic. She was bedizened with jewels, and over the jewels, silk cloth bearing designs of golden rings. Her hair was wound up with a primordial flower. Without a payer a flute was heard - - the whistling music of the air. She moved gently like a bamboo grove stirred by gentle breezes.

The divine white horse, having long ears, was uplifted. HIs forehead, of great fortune and authentic presence, was broad and expansive like the dancing ground of the warriors.

gar gyi cho ga: dance ritual....
gar gyis rol pa: sensuous dance...
gar ma: goddess of dance...
glu gar: song and dance...
rdo rje"i gar rgya: vajra dance and mudra...
dhyangs 'cham: dance performed to a chanted melody....
shigs se shig: to sway and whirl in dance...
khrab mkhan: one who wears armor, dancer...

"Gurdjieff movements......Movements, or sacred dances, constitute an integral part of the Gurdjieff Work. Gurdjieff sometimes referred to himself as a "teacher of dancing" and gained initial public notice for his attempts to put on a ballet in Moscow called Struggle of the Magicians......Films of movements demonstrations are occasionally shown for private viewing by the Gurdjieff Foundations and one is shown in a scene in the Peter Brook movie Meetings with Remarkable Men."......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gurdjieff

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….April 2013

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