Directly behind Tergar Monastery, where HH
Karmapa resides in Bodhgaya, is Druk Ngawang Thubten Chokling, the monastery of
the spiritual king or Shabdrung of Bhutan. Yangsi Shabdrung is eleven years old
but he is still unable to travel freely outside the country. His parents,
however, have travelled here with their second child, a boy of five.
A monastery without a rinpoche lacks
magnetizing power and thus the place looks forlorn. But for three days of the
year, during the annual Guru Rinpoche festival, it comes alive with the sound
of traffic on the dusty pot-holed road that leads through a poor Indian village
to the main gate.
The Bhutanese arrive in traditional dress, crammed into cars,
motor rickshaws and the new environmentally-friendly electric trolleys. The
prayer flags fly, and the golden canopy comes out, transforming the temple
entrance into a VIP seating area. To the right is a throne that awaits the
arrival of the 17th Karmapa, who has been a regular guest here since he started
the Monlam.
The Bhutanese cham is significantly
different from the Tibetan, originating as it did with the visions of Jampal Dorje, the son of the founder of
Bhutan, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, in the 17th century. The dancers have more
flexibility, their movements are lithe and somehow contemporary, even feminine in
style.
Devotees line both sides of the long
playing field leading to the monastery holding white offering scarves:
Bhutanese, Europeans and a significant number of Malaysians and Taiwanese. A
procession greets the Karmapa's black car at exactly 10 o'clock. Masked dancers sway, while jesters cavort, and
monks in dark orange robes blow horns and gyalins. It just happens that the first glimmer of sun
melts the fog at precisely the same time as the Karmapa enters the temple. Once
inside there are three enormous statues: the Buddha, Guru Rinpoche and the
first Shabdrung of Bhutan. He lights a butter lamp, chants a Mahakala prayer
and blesses a new mask of Yamantaka before he takes his customary seat on the
throne outside. The Khenpo, Tshokey Dorje sits beneath him talking to His
Holiness almost continuously. As they talk, three clowns make floppy
prostrations to the Karmapa, in jest. Another poses for a photo with him. The
idea is to distract the crowd while the dancers prepare.
It is the second day of the dance called Dungam,
the dance of the wrathful deities of Lama Gongdu, a treasure cycle discovered
by terton Sangye Lingpa (1314-1396). Four dancers appear in the form of deer wearing stag masks
with antlers to subdue all the evil spirits who try to destroy the dharma. The next dance is performed by the charnal
ground protectors called durda wearing skull masks. They catch the spirits of the dharma
obstructors and put them into a black triangular spirit catcher. In the final
act they will take out their phurbas to liberate the spirits from evil karma. In between there is a shift to a dakini dance, in which the movements of the dancers are flexible like swans,
flowing from one graceful step to the next. It is in an elegant,
well-rehearsed, confident performance.
On the balcony of the monastery, where another scene is being enacted,
the Khenpo brings out a tray with some objects on it, among them a phurba used
to destroy obstacles. The Karmapa blesses it. Soon afterwards at mid-day, the
Karmapa stands up to depart while his devotees flock in singular pursuit. The Guru
Rinpoche dancers barely miss a beat.
Sonam Dorje, the head monk confides: ''We rejoice that His Holiness
comes here every year to bless our Tsechu. His time is very precious, yet he
sacrifices it and sits here for two hours. We would like to thank His Holiness
for guiding and taking care of us. No Rinpoche other than His Holiness Karmapa
comes here to visit us.''
Naomi
Levine: Author of The Miraculous 16th Karmapa - Incredible Encounters with the
Black Crown Buddha.
Photos
copyright of Kagyu Monlam.
