Mongolian religious dance TSAM

 

            The Zuun Khuree Dashchoilin Monastery organized a Khuree Tsam Dance on July 20 to commemorate their 20^th anniversary. This was the seventh time the monastery organized such a program.

About how tsam came to Mongolia, old records say, “When the Buddhist religion started to spread in the snowy land of Tibet and the first monasteries and shrines were founded there, the malevolent guardian spirits of the waters and the lands hindered and obstructed the spreading of the religion. So the Indian master Badamjunai, following the secret tantric teachings, organized a tsam dance and by means of it he tamed and defeated these malevolent spirits and started to spread the precious Buddhist Teaching. He established the first Tibetan monastery, the splendid and glorious Samiyaa. From that time the tsam dance began to spread.” Finally ir became a part of Mongolian Buddhist practices.

Tsam dances are spectacles of sublime and mesmerizing beauty, of color, motion and sound that serve as public performances as well as divine offerings. Tsam dancers meditate, pray and softly chant while performing. Their dancing is  "meditation in action," creating a sacred space with a particular felt mood or vibration, and is also an active prayer with a particular target. Tsam can also be seen as a "shamanic" kind of exorcism or purification of a given place or time – or better, a Buddhist "blessing" or energizing-event designed to uplift and make virtuous the audience"s mind. Tsam dancers are seen to embody or "channel" the Divine beings – their created space is that of a Deity"s presence in its own transcendent palace and grounds.

Khuree tsam is bigger, more elaborate in terms of masks, ornaments and handicrafts, rituals and content was more extensive compared to other types of tsam and some researchers concluded that Mongolian tsam was the most "precious" in the world. This distinction is directly connected with the Buddhist scholars and masters of Mongolia and also cultures of certain regions and people. Khuree tsam was performed between 1811-1937 without interruption and during great repression thar took place in Mongolia, it was destroyed like other Buddhist rituals. From 1990-s, democracy was introduced in Mongolia and there was a campaign to revive Mongolian tradition and culture, as a result activities of restoring some ancient temples and forgotten rituals were initiated. There is a great demand for time and funding to revive Buddhist rituals interrupted for over 70 years, and most of all there is a lack of monks who has knowledge to perform those rituals. Nowadays, there is no obstacle from the side of the state and society and there have been a number of tsam performances in the frame of religious ritual and it is important to organize the events in more expanded forms.