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Post by spindrift on Apr 20, 2009 21:00:29 GMT
In 2004 I was invited by my Japanese Buddhist sensei (teacher) to Japan. I travelled with a female fellow Buddist and our english teacher. We stayed near Chiba New Town which is in the countryside about 2 hours from Tokyo. It was the September equinox just before the rice harvest. The weather was wonderfully hot and was about to turn cooler. Sensei asked us to join him at the small village of Torimi where he had been invited (along with the local Shinto priest) to attend the Lion Dance. Although I do not know much about the origins of this dance I could see, at once, that it was all to do with fertility and the blessing of the coming harvest. The dance took place in front of a small Shinto shrine.  Local people provided the music.  Three male dancers appeared representing lions   |
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Post by spindrift on Apr 20, 2009 21:18:30 GMT
 I think this dancer represented the God of Fertility. You can see that he sports an enormous penis. The white paper at the tip of it represents sperm. Lots of these papers (sperms) were strewn within the dancing area.  The 'god' danced around the arena flourishing his phallus and touching selected people with it sitting in the audience. The music was loud, people were wrapt up in the dance and I felt quite nervous. Suddenly, out of the blue, the dancer touched me with it. I was startled but pleased. Then, tired from his exertions, he fell down on the ground like this  Then he got up and danced away.  There was no way that we, as foreigners, would have seen this spectacle if we hadn't been staying with Sensei and gone along with him. I would love to know more about the dance but I rather think that it was solely an ancient fertility right. The dance took place in front of the Shinto shrine (jinjya); there was nothing Buddhist about it and it was clearly linked to ancient animist beliefs. But Buddhism and Shintoism go hand in glove in Japan and one fits in with the other. I was certainly privileged to be present that day. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2009 5:27:02 GMT
Most of the spectators in the background seem to have no interest whatsoever in what they are watching. Or perhaps they are paralyzed with emotion?
I am very curious about all of the various 'lion' dances throughout Asia, since none of the lions ever has the remotest resemblance to a lion, and of course anyway, there are no lions in Asia. I'm wondering if 'lion' is the proper translation of the creatures depicted or if indeed the Asians are having strange fantasies about African animals.
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Post by spindrift on Apr 21, 2009 13:04:36 GMT
Kerouac needs answers:
Spectators - I was paralyzed with emotion but the rest were obviously not. These people have been watching this ritual every September all of their lives and are well used to it.
THE LION AND SNOW-LION.
(Skt. singha, simha; Tib. seng-ge)
(Note: many Indians are called 'Singh' for obvious reasons i.e. they consider themselves or families to be important. Many aristocratic families are named Singh).
The lion, as the king of all beasts, is an ancient Indian symbol of sovereignity and protection.
Early Buddhism adopted the lion as a symbol of Shakyamuni Buddha, who is also known as Shakyasimha (the Lion of the Shakya Clan). As a symbol of his sovereignity the Buddha is represented seated upon a throne supported by eight lions. Simhanada (the Lion's Roar) is a name given to a form of Avalokiteshvara (Bodhisattva), where the term 'lion's roar' refers to the supremacy of the Buddha's teachings.
The lion of Indian art found its cultural representation in Tibetan art as the mythological snow-lion of Tibet. This white snow-lion with a turquoise mane is the presiding local deity of Tibet's snow mountain ranges. Like Buddhism, which 'leaped' over the Himalayas from India, the white snow-lion may be auspiciously glimpsed leaping playfully from one snow peak to another. The snow-lion is Tibet's national animal emblem.
The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols
by Robert Beer.
(there's a lot more but this is enough for general information).
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Post by komsomol on Apr 21, 2009 14:48:13 GMT
The Snow Lion is an archetypal thoughtform confluence or personification of the primordial playfullness of 'joy' and 'bliss' (Sanskrit: ananda; Tibetan: dga' ), somewhat energetically comparable to the western unicorn, though without a horn. Though paradoxical, the Snow Lion does not fly but their feet never touch the ground; their existence is a playful 'continuum' (Tibetan: rgyud) of leaping from mountain peak to mountain peak. The energetic potency (wisdom or shakti) of the Snow Lion is expressed in the attribute of the gankyil/gakyil ('bliss+whirling' or 'wheel of joy') that the Snow Lion keep in eternal play. The gankyil is a vriddhi derivation of the dragon's fiery 'pearl of great price'. The gakyil is the principal polyvalent symbol and teaching tool of all the doctrinal trinities of Dzogchen, and is the energetic signature of the trikaya. The gankyil is the inner wheel of the Dharmacakra of the Vajrayana Ashtamangala path of Buddhism.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2009 17:17:24 GMT
So it would appear that these are mythical lions and not real ones. How strange that a place like Singapore would be the lion city instead of the tiger city.
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Post by gyro on Apr 21, 2009 21:32:32 GMT
What's the difference in those photo's loading than in the thread I did earlier ? They take about the same time to re-size for me, yet there's no comment about them being to big thus far .... ?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2009 21:52:30 GMT
A 32% reduction on just 2 photos is not at all the same as 83% on ALL of the photos. You clearly have faster internet than I do.
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Post by gyro on Apr 21, 2009 22:01:04 GMT
Fuck it, I think I'll give up this posting photo's lark anyway.
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Post by lola on Apr 22, 2009 0:45:22 GMT
Beautiful, spindrift. Thanks.
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Post by spindrift on Apr 22, 2009 7:09:16 GMT
Thanks. I thought it was interesting and something that foreigners rarely experience.
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Post by spindrift on Apr 22, 2009 8:39:04 GMT
As I thought - lions are still in India. I know they used to roam around Mesapotamia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_LionSo the lion is not mythical but the snow-lion is. Do not confuse with the snow-leopard which is alive and well in the high Himals. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2009 9:58:44 GMT
Ah, interesting -- I had never seen lions mentioned in India. I have definitely learned something.
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Post by spindrift on Apr 23, 2009 2:44:13 GMT
I am posting two interesting Japanese-style Lions. This one is saying 'Ahh.....' a Sanskrit sacred syllable  This lion is saying 'Oum.....' Another Sanskrit sacred syllable  Ahh and Oum....signifying the Beginning and the End and Encompassing Everything in Between.... Lions, the guardian spirits of the Dharma (Buddha's teachings). So yet more lion themes in Asia.... |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2009 2:44:47 GMT
Thank you spindrift,very fascinating. I admire your adventurism.
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Post by spindrift on Apr 23, 2009 2:46:29 GMT
Oh! please come travel with me....
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2009 2:55:38 GMT
I would love to go see the snow leopards in the Himalayas. Did you ever read Peter Matheissen's book,The Snow Leopard? A fellow Buddhist, of the Renzai school,I believe he may be a sensei by now. He has a zendo in NY,Ocean Zendo it's called. Very beautiful.
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Post by spindrift on Apr 23, 2009 21:31:56 GMT
Yes, Casimira, I have read The Snow Leopard.
Peter Matheissen also wrote a book about his journey in the early 1990s to Lo Manthang, Upper Mustang, Nepal. I have recently posted photos of the Teji Festival in Lo. I will find the book tomorrow and post the correct title. I couldn't see it on Amazon.
I believe The Snow Leopard was 'set' in Upper Mustang.
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Post by hwinpp on Apr 28, 2009 7:27:38 GMT
Indeed, as SD posted, there are some in- bred lions left in the Gir forest in India.
What's with the big wooden penis on some of the actors, SD?
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