Shigatse Zhashenlunbusiqiangmu
01 · Historical Records
In 1617 CE (the fire-snake year of the tenth rabjung of the Tibetan calendar), during the time of the Fourth Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen, Tashilhunpo Monastery established the "Aba Za-tsang" (esoteric monastery); in 1647 CE (the fire-dog year of the eleventh rabjung of the Tibetan calendar), when the master was 78 years old, he drew on the precedents of Samye Monastery's chams year by year — [the source text breaks off here]
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Cham is a religious dance, also called "tiao shen" (the masked deity dance). "Semo Qinmu Cham" is the Gelug school cham performed by the monks of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet. In Tibetan, "semo" means watching, and "qinmu" means large-scale or grand; thus "Semo Qinmu Cham" means watching a grand religious dance. The dance of "Padmasambhava's Eight Names" performed at the "Quzu" religious festival set up the rite of exorcising demons and averting calamity for the monastery's protector deity "Chibala" (one of the attendants of the six-armed deity, one of the divine generals who guard the eastern direction of the world), and established the "Gudu" (exorcism) cham which Tashilhunpo Monastery performs every year on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth Tibetan month; this was the predecessor of Semo Qinmu Cham. By 1862 CE (the water-dog year of the fourteenth rabjung of the Tibetan calendar), the Seventh Panchen Tenpai Nyima had travelled to Lhasa many times to take part in related ritual activities and had become interested in the monastic regulations of the front-Tibet monasteries. On returning he built "Deqing Gesang Podrang" (the New Palace) at Tashilhunpo Monastery and absorbed and borrowed many passages from the chams of the monasteries of Lamu, Caigongtang, Lhozhag, Danjielin, Muru and Cijuelin. On the basis of the "Gudu" formerly performed by Aba Za-tsang he formally established Semo Qinmu Cham, performed by the monks of Zigong Za-tsang, and it has continued to the present day.
The Gutor exorcism Cham
The dance of the eight names of Padmasambhava at the Chutok festival established a Gutor exorcism rite performed each year on the twenty-ninth of the twelfth month.
The dance of Padmasambhava's eight names
A Cham item of the Chutok festival, paired with the exorcism rite of the protector deity Chiba La, and the earliest element of the form.
The protector deity Chiba La
Chiba La, one of the eastern guardians attending the six-armed Mahakala, is honoured in the monastery's exorcism rite.
The new palace and borrowed Cham sections
In 1862 the Seventh Panchen built the new palace and drew many passages from other monasteries' Cham to establish the Semochinmo.
The Zigung college and over eighty pupils
Performed by monks of the Zigung college to this day, it was kept alive by two lead dancers who trained over eighty pupils between them.
The twenty-ninth of the twelfth Tibetan month
The exorcism Cham is performed on the twenty-ninth of the twelfth Tibetan month; Semochinmo means the great dance for viewing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Semo Qinmu Cham is performed by the monks of Zigong Za-tsang at Tashilhunpo Monastery, and is the largest in scale among the chams of Gelug school monasteries. The chams of monasteries in the Shigatse area such as Sakya Monastery, Xalu Monastery and Baiju Monastery share both similarities and differences with the Tashilhunpo cham in role configuration, mask forms and accompanying instruments; because the Tashilhunpo cham absorbed passages from the chams of Lamu, Caigongtang, Lhozhag, Danjielin, Muru and Cijuelin, it carries the stylistic features of both front Tibet and Tsang.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As a rare Tibetan Buddhist temple sacrificial dance, the Tashilhunpo Monastery cham has high research value. Lama Ciren (record from the official inheritor file): Lama Ciren is the director of the democratic management committee of Tashilhunpo Monastery and a vice chairperson of the Shigatse Prefecture CPPCC. He has studied cham at the "Zigong Kang" Za-tsang (monastic college) of Tashilhunpo Monastery since 1927, and still takes part every year in the monastery's "Semu Qinmu" festival performances. Lama Ciren has fully mastered the performance systems of the "Guduo" cham of the Tashilhunpo Monastery's esoteric college and of the "Semu Qinmu" cham of the "Zigong Kang" Za-tsang. His writings include a monograph on the theory of, and a general introduction to, the "Semu Qinmu" cham of Tashilhunpo Monastery. Male, Tibetan, born 1920, died 2011, native of Shigatse, Tibet. Representative inheritor of the Shigatse Tashilhunpo Monastery cham among the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. He served for a long time as the leading performer of the cham and, together with Lama Mima, trained more than eighty cham disciples, making an important contribution to the rescue, restoration and transmission of the Tashilhunpo Monastery cham. Lama Mima (record from the official inheritor file): Male, Tibetan, born 1933, native of Shigatse, Tibet. Lama Mima is the presiding lama of the "Zigong Kang" Za-tsang of Tashilhunpo Monastery. He began studying cham in 1953 and takes part in the monastery's annual performance. After years of practice, he has relatively completely mastered the tunes, drum rhythms and dance movements of each scene of the "Semu Qinmu" cham. Representative inheritor of the Shigatse Tashilhunpo Monastery cham among the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. Together with Lama Ciren he trained more than eighty cham disciples, making an important contribution to the rescue, restoration and transmission of the "Semu Qinmu" cham of Tashilhunpo Monastery.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lama Ciren 02-0377
- Lama Mima 02-0378
- Baimaqunjiu 04-1565
- Tudanqunpei 04-1566
- Zhaxi 05-2232
- Ciyang 05-2233
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。