Slow Dance -Monks



PS: The video quality could be a bit poor since it was taken using my compact camera.

I saw some monks doing a slow rhythmic dance like movement while arguing about something very serious and after each major dialogue they would clap very loudly. This is the first time I have seen this kind of a ritual.

I asked an elderly Tibetan gentlemen sitting around what they were talking and he mentioned they were discussing something from the scriptures which even he couldn't comprehend. Has anybody seen something like this before ??

Comments

Subhadip said…
Its not dancing, its debating! One monk sits and the other monk stands in front of him and disapproves the point made by the sitting monk. This is done with a clap and accompanied by a few words which means "Now, what do you think of that?"... and it goes on.

If I am not wrong, this debate was shown in Michael Palin's "Himalayas" - 4th episode (the one that featured Lhasa).
3:53 AM
Anuradha said…
Yeah you can call it debating maybe!!

But it has a certain rhythmic dance like movement to each debate/dialogoue.

I don't remember a similar scene in the video or maybe i have selective amnesia
5:32 AM
Anuradha said…
I didn't get to the Palin Video but did see it in another video today 'Tibetan book of Dying' . Guess it's a common ritual/routine for debating by the monks.
2:01 PM
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