A Brief Analysis of the Sacred Tenth-Day Guru Padmasambhava Cham (Sacred Lama Dance)

Abstract

The Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was born bearing the major and minor marks of enlightenment in the sacred garden of Lumbini, and subsequently attained full awakening at Vajrasana in Bodh Gaya, Magadha. At various times and places including Varanasi and Vulture’s Peak, he turned the three wheels of the Dharma according to the different capacities of his followers. This Teaching gave rise to many vehicles (Yanas), all of which can be subsumed within the Great and Small Vehicles (Mahayana and Hinayana). Within this teaching, the elaborate ritual dances (Cham) of the peaceful, wrathful, and semi-wrathful deities constitute a distinct, unbroken lineage of visualization practice and Sadhana within the Vajrayana (Secret Mantrayana) of the Mahayana. The oral instructions for these practices have been transmitted intact through the authentic Tantras and the hidden treasure (Terma) teachings and continue to be upheld today by the four great lineages of Tibetan Buddhism in the Himalayan region. Cham is distinguished above all by its external physical movements and postures, performed in accordance with the principles of Secret Mantra. In the Himalayan region, this tradition traces back to its transmission by the Second Buddha, the Precious Master of Oddiyana (Guru Rinpoche), who established it as a supreme and unsurpassed path for accomplishing both the temporary and ultimate peace and happiness of sentient beings. Guru Padmasambhava, the Master of Mantra, prophesied by the Buddha Shakyamuni envisioned this practice for the benefit of the teachings and beings in general, and for Tibet in particular. From this lineage of direct vision and practice arose the elaborate ritual dance of the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche (Guru Tsen Gye Cham), which remains preserved and practiced to this day. Drawing on both traditional textual sources and modern scholarly methods, this paper examines the origins, purposes, and specific significance of the Guru Tsen Gye Cham, with the aim of offering new insight into its history and practice.