Inside Shiva's Egg: India's cosmic boulder

• PHOTOS: America's new 'third tallest' statue is a Hindu monkey god named Hanuman (MSN)

Cosmic egg reveals shocking secret of Shiva

The first yogi, Lord Shiva, in Rishikesh, India, set in the foothills of the Himalayas

The rock hewn castle wall of Thirumayam Fort Temple in South India

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(PraveenMohan) A giant egg-shaped rock reveals a strange secret about Shiva. Did the Hindu god Lord Shiva physically come down from the heavens, the sky, the akasha and rule India? Was Thirumayam Fort Temple in South India chosen for such a landing due to gravity? Is the lingam (phallic shaft) a spacecraft out of which he emerged?

• 0:00 - Secret Chamber – A Cosmic Egg
• 1:19 - Negative Lingam
• 2:20 - Impossible Construction
• 4:21 - More Secret Chambers?
• 4:53 - Thirumayam Fort
• 5:40 - What’s HIDDEN Inside?
• 6:11 - A Lingam
• 7:54 - Lingam - NOT A Phallic Symbol
• 9:08 - Arrival of GODS
• 12:01 - Lord Shiva with Advanced Devices
• 13:03 - WHY Thirumayam?
• 14:04 - Lord Shiva Ruled South India?
• 15:44 - Conclusion

Cosmic Egg

Phallic lingam with carving of deity, India

Imagine a giant boulder, a massive egg-shaped rock that stands ten feet off the ground. One cannot reach it to touch at that level, shiny and smooth like an egg. What if it were a secret chamber? What if hidden inside this rock there were a hollowed-out cavity impossible to create with modern technology with a precisely cut hidden doorway revealed only by an earthquake? That would be an insane theory, right?

Yet, this is exactly what happened a few centuries years ago. It looked like this, smooth and natural. Then, because of that earthquake, a stone door cracked off and fell. Only then did the locals realize it was hollowed out, that there was a chamber inside. The door was so well made and so perfectly fitted that nobody recognized it was a door.

They put up a metal ladder to access the entryway. The earthquake revealed this chamber. No one knows when it was created. There are no inscriptions pointing to its origin. Before analyzing the exterior further, let’s take a look at what's INSIDE.

Sivan Isha: Lord Shiva carving in Coimbatore, India

.

There is only one thing inside today, a single lingam (sacred phallic stone). It is fascinating, a cylinder sitting on a square pedestal. Who carved it, carried it, and placed it here? No one. Normally people carve a shape, put it together, then place it in a certain location. This is the positive construction technique.

But this lingam was made through a negative construction technique. The lingam is carved out of the bedrock itself. Meaning that the lingam was not built up, rather it was created by taking rock away all around it. It was left over through removal all around it. We can call it a negative lingam.

Originally, there must have been other items inside, because what reason would there be to hide and seal this chamber if it only housed a lingam, right? Maybe it was studded with gold and diamonds, perhaps some advanced technology or electronic devices.

One may ask, Did they find some sophisticated devices here and remove them for study? How did anyone create such an advanced secret chamber hidden for many centuries in the past if we cannot do it even now? Such construction would be impossible without advanced alien technology.

Patreon: praveenmohan. Whatsapp Channel whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9U. Instagram praveenet. Facebook praveenmohanfans. Twitter iampraveenmohan. Email: info.praveenmohan@gmail.com. #AncientTechnology #PraveenMohan #Hinduism

• Praveen Mohan, YouTube, July 4, 2022; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Bhakti Fest, Joshua Tree (Sept. 15-17)

Bhakti Fest, Joshua Tree, CA, Sept. 15, 2023 | Afton Tickets; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

THE YOGA & CONSCIOUS MUSIC EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME IS BACK.

After a three-year hiatus Bhakti Fest is making its long-awaited return. The revival of a premiere 3-day Yoga & Conscious Music Festival, offering music all day, a wide variety of yoga, breathwork, sound healings, spiritual and wellness workshops in a magical high-desert setting (Joshua Tree Lake and Campground).

There will be much to do and see at Bhakti Fest, including an incredible line-up of amazing conscious musicians on multiple stages, premiere yoga classes, and a wide variety of spiritual and wellness workshops.

Favorite artists and yoga teachers will be returning, plus plenty of fresh faces. Enjoy an expanded KidsLand experience, beautiful art installations and live art, sound healings, bodywork in the healing sanctuary, a large array of amazing artisan vendors, and more.

Bhakti Fest features festival favorites such as Krishna Das, plus other beloved artists including Michael Franti, Ayla Nereo, Sol Rising, MC YOGI, Satsang, Ragunath, DJ Drez and Marti Nikko, Govind Das and Jacqueline Michelle, Kirtaniyas, and many more.

Practice with the world’s top yoga teachers and spiritual leaders such as Shiva Rea, Kia Miller, Andrew Sealy, Sujala Roy, Yogrishi Vishvketu, Michael Brian Baker, Jai Dev Singh, Kristin Olson, and many more to be announced.

• (Visit Bhaktifest.com for the full line-up coming soon). Bhakti Fest is a family-friendly, drug and alcohol-free event, and the programs are accessible to all levels.

Festival passes include everything excluding pre- and post-Fest intensives. These intensives take place on Thursday Sept. 14th and Monday Sept. 18th and require a separate ticket. A full festival pass is required to purchase the intensives.

Kids? Children under age 5 are free. The Bhakti Fest Kid Land is full of fun for the entire family.

Senior, local, veteran, and student discounts are also available. Reach out to info@bhaktifest.com for more information.

Accommodations include camping, RV camping with and without hookups, cozy trailers, and glamping yurts. It’s a powerful experience to camp under the stars of the high desert. But for those who enjoy more creature comforts, there are many local hotels, AirBnBs, and unique vacation home rentals available in the area.

For those who choose to camp, please bring own camping gear. Or purchase camping and RV's without hookups on the Afton Tickets website. For all other options, learn more here.

Please do not bring alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to this event. Note that tickets are non-refundable. Those one have purchased tickets and are unable to attend are welcome to transfer the ticket to someone else to sell or give the ticket away.

Join this heart-centered community for its 12th year of BHAKTI FEST.

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TO USE A PROMO CODE: Click the ticket link, just below the Event Title in the top left corner. See a link that says ENTER PROMO CODE. Click link and enter code.

• Home - Bhakti Fest
• Bhakti Fest: Joshua Tree, California - September 15th, 2023 | Afton Tickets

Learning from Ram "Be Here Now" Dass

Harvard's Dr. Richard Alpert became Ram Dass

Ram Dass -- though he has since passed away -- has been a pivotal influence on American culture for three generations. Every year, for the past ten years, Bhakti Fest Executive Producer Sridhar Silberfein has had the honor to meet with Ram Dass for a very special and intimate Bhakti Fest exclusive interview. Hear the most recent interview and the wisdom he has to share with bhaktas.

It's time for Ecstatic Dance (video)

Sophie Sôfrēē, June 25, 2020; Kelly Ani, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dance of the Moon: Ecstatic Dance with Sophie Sôfrēē, Mana Mei, Layla El Khadri

(Sophie Sôfrēē) Download "Dance of the Moon" mix (ad and voiceover-free) here: wakamaia.love/products... While the world is unraveling, I find refuge in my relationship with the Earth, my family, my dance, my dreams and visions.

If you’re feeling called to take part in our next Ecstatic Dance DJ Training -- taking place March 11-April 15, 2023, go to: wakamaiaschoolofsacredfun.thi... One of my dream seeds in this new cycle is to merge my dance mixes with my art as a medium to inspire people to awaken their bodies, their wild selves, their life force, connection to nature, shadows, joy, vitality, and their hearts, all of it.

It is only when we allow our soul [deep inner selves] to be heard, that we can truly evolve in this lifetime. So I offer this 40+ minute Ecstatic Dance journey, an invitation to feel this body and listen to dreams and visions of this new Earth that is so ready for a radical upgrade.

May you come again and again to this place to dance, a river and waterfall I often come to cleanse my soul.

Click subscribe for the dances to come. Gratitude for the collaboration with @ajeetmusic whose new lunar EP “Dance of the Moon” inspired this art into form! To the incredible @manameilin & @laylaelkhadri for always dancing your YES. To the amazing IDNMind / Mario Gonzalez @idnmind for supporting this somewhat crazy vision behind the camera.

May you dance under the moon, and let's shake this collective dream awake!

Love, Sophie Sôfrēē

Music credits: Maneesh de Moor El Buho Peter Power Raio & Sophie Sôfrēē. (Remixes by Ben Temple Step). Mose & Lindsey Wise Sophie Sofree Web: wakamaia.love. FB: facebook.com/wakamaialove. IG: instagram.com/sophiesofre... Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/djsofree. Music: Grande Mareacion Song 1 of 7 Pasale Song 2 of 7 De Usuahia a la Quiaca Song 3 of 7 Canto De Ossanha Song 4 of 7 Ven Gran Espiritu (Temple Step Remix) Song 5 of 7 Ah Ni Kuni (Mose Remix) Song 6 of 7 Dance of the Moon Song 7 of 7 ARTIST Maneesh De Moor LICENSES TuneCore (on behalf of MDMsound); Muserk Rights Management, TuneCore Publishing, and 2 Music Rights Societies.

Music is Medicine: 3-hour immersive (Jan. 18)

Ananda (DBM); Disclosure Fest (eventbrite); Crystal Q., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Bring: yoga mats, blankets, cozy pillows, and water bottle (disclosurefest.org).

The basis of "spirituality," or movement of prana (breath), is meditative development.

Journey with Disclosure Fest in Los Angeles for an intimate evening and deep dive into the healing power of music and yoga for a community first:

Three-hour immersive dance experience and a full sound journey by Poranguí* (porangui.com) co-facilitated by singer Ashley Klein (FB).

The night includes the world-renowned yoga and movement instructor Shiva Rea (shivarea.com) offering "PULSE: Rhythm & Prana Flow Yoga as Movement Meditation."

Also includes Visual Reality and projection-mapping created by visual artist Michael Strauss (FB). More + TICKETS

• Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020
• 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
• Casa Italiana, 1051 N. Broadway
• Los Angeles, CA 90012 (MAP)

What is the free annual Los Angeles "DisclosureFest" festival?

✵SCHEDULE

• 6:00 PM doors open
• opening ceremony
• Shiva Rea yoga
• Poranguí dance experience
• Sound Journey with Poranguí and Ashley Klein
• closing ceremony

Poranqui with Ashley Klein live at BaliSpirit Festival trance dance

WHAT TO EXPECT

• 
  Explore where rhythm, voice, and spirit meet in polyrhythmic dance.
• Embrace unique voices as everyone cultivates expression in a safe and celebratory container.
• Release self-judgement and limiting beliefs.
• Sing the soul and braid voices together to amplify healing and beauty.
• Emerge with a new level of confidence and freedom in expression to feel renewal, connection, and joy.

*ABOUT: Poranguí was reared among three cultures -- Brazil, Mexico, the U.S. -- and steeped since birth in traditional forms of music, healing, and ceremony. Drawing from his cross-cultural background and ethnomusicology training at Duke University, he has over 20 years of international work experience as an artist, musician, educator, filmmaker, consultant, and therapist, utilizing the healing properties of sound and movement to foster individual and collective well being. As a live looping artist and one-man orchestra, he weaves ancestral songs and indigenous rhythms from around the globe.

John Wick stars in "Little Buddha" (film)

Keanu Reeves as the Buddha in Little Buddha; Jen, Crystal Q., Wisdom Quarterly
Little Buddha is a classic of North American Buddhism, as Bhutanese lamas find a American kid who is a tulku, a reborn lama. Based on true events.

 

"John Wick" (Keanu Reeves) is a psycho killer glorified in American cinema. Poor Keanu, what a dummy, he used to make thought-provoking films (Little Buddha, The Matrix). 

John Wick is an American neo-noir action thriller film series directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad. It stars Keanu Reeves and others. It is an installment in the John Wick film series.

This revenge story focuses on Wick searching for the men who broke into his home, stole his vintage car, and killed his puppy [all to co-opt audiences into rooting for killing], which serves as a memento of his recently deceased wife. It is a kill fest, an orgy of violence, which parents feed their kids with a low enough rating so they never hear or -- gawd forbid -- see sex on screen.

• https://www.scpr.org/programs/filmweek/2018/07/20/63380/mpaa-says-eighth-grade-is-too-much-for-eighth-grad/

Dance, DANCE because dancing is... (video)

Jen B., Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; JVM; Jared; FOB



1920s' Hot Hot Hot Dance

Shiva-Shakti (Parvati) dance of destruction

The 1920s were the source of many of today's popular dance styles such as the Foxtrot, Quickstep, and Charleston. There was polite "white dance" and some very hot black-and-white dance. Most of the early jazz records are marked Foxtrot. In fact, the Fast Foxtrot became the Quickstep, and the slower version retained the name Foxtrot. The Charleston was a major development, along with the Blackbottom. Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Before the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. What is jazz dance?
 

Innovative jerks Fall Out Boy produced a masterpiece song and video.
 

Who needs traditional dancing/surfing when we have hobo humping slobo chaos from Whale?

Jared and friends are stup'

Jared Dines

...efying. Oh, to laugh, hurl, donate, or smash our screens!?
Metal Core-tet "Dance, Dance" (F.O.B. cover)
Get this song (starting May 6, 2015) and all my others for free (plus other perks) simply by donating $1 per month to my Patreon account so my Jackass friends (Justin Hockaday, Austin Dickey, Casey Molenaar) and I (Jared Dines) can keep making videos. Mixed and mastered by Fluff (Ryan Bruce). Ask Jared: "Dude, do you do drugs?"

(JB) Abysmal failure Lady Gaga once had something to say: Just Dance!

Science and religion search for meaning (video)

Freakysample; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Forbidden search for God particle, Shiva, CERN

Edited from the History Channel's "Ancient Aliens." Some scientific research should remain unexplored. CERN is dangerous beyond belief, maniacal and motivated by unexplained impulses. Who is attempting to outdo Nature in its wisdom and slow but sure progress? There are still good people who trust in goodness. Think before blindly supporting war and corporatism, rushing us to our own enslavement. We are misled and misused in the name of science as we were previously in the name of religion.

Coachella Music Festival 2014 starts (watch)

Amber Larson, Dev, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Youtube.com/user/Coachella (Ch. 1, 2, 3)

Watch the California desert festival streamed live on youtube both weekends.

Art, music, lovemaking, yoga, desert communing, shouting, contemplating, staying hydrated

These are the LINKS to Day 1, Channel 1. Channel 2. Channel 3. More

 

Girls of Coachella rave and barf on lawn

We can think, think, think, but sometimes we just have to dance. What is dancing? Rhythmic movement to cues coming in through other senses. Such movement makes us human, bonding large groups. Go tribal, go rural, go aural, but go. It need not make sense to the CPU. As long as the senses can sense it, our bodies can make sense of it. It's part of what the body is for, and there are many beings without bodies for lack of use. So use it. Schedule

Colbchella: Dancing to "Get Lucky" with Colbert (Daft Punk)

 

• VIDEO: Japan's "Penis Festival" goes totally nuts
• The radical vaginal art of Favianna Rodriguez (Berkeley)
• Weekly Progressive Events (OC)
• Hey, US Military-Industrial Complex, I'm not a bug splat
• 9-foot case with Sasquatch body goes on tour in US
• DNA shows that Sasquatches (Yakkhas) mated with human females, not accepted by mainstream media (MSNBC via LiveScience.com)
• Sasquatch is human relative, scientific study shows
• How our brains see something that can't be seen
• Top 10 Beasts and Dragons: How Reality Makes Myth
• Bigfoot, Nessie, Kraken: Cryptozoology Quiz 
• Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena

RAVES: Electric Daisy Carnival, Hard (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Dev, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Gustavo Turner (LA Weekly)

EDC 2014 hopefuls wait to be called in (Gustavo Turner, 1 of 49 photos in SLIDESHOW)

 
EDC Auditions

Raver hopeful in front of Budai (G. Turner)

Years ago, buses full of hopefuls (males and females) arrived in Hollywood every day. They were the most beautiful young people in America carrying but a ratty suitcase, an "act" or a "talent," and The Dream -- making it "in the movies." 

 

These days, the movies ain't what they used to be. But the hopefuls keep coming to events like the open auditions call put out by Insomniac, the unstoppable creators of mega dance festival Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). The auditions were held last Tuesday and Wednesday (March 5-6, 2014) at Create Nightclub, in the heart of Hollywood, next door to the Museum of Death.

The Insomniac auditioners the ravers are trying to impress (Gustavo Turner, laweekly.com)

 

Wholesome "Yoga Rave" (Art of Living, L.A.)

Budai (Hotei) and ravers getting ready (LAw)

The tryouts were also being filmed for Insomniac's new YouTube show "#EDCAuditions," a sort of "America's Got Talent" for go-go dancers in tiny bikinis, contortionists, clowns, magicians, stilt walkers, guys who blow up enormous balloons and then get inside them, and...

 

A man in an old-timey explorer outfit who can chug-a-lug a whole gallon of white liquid and vomit it into a bucket while his friend tries to juggle a bowling bowl and a giddy redhead in a skintight dress jumps around. [They were our favorite.] More

(InsomniacEvents) Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas 2014 official announcement

(Art of Living TV) Inspired by Indian teacher Sri Sri Ravi Shankar emerging out of the rich, pro-Buddhist Vedic Hindu yoga tradition, particularly as synthesized by the Sage Patanjali, this course teaches the initial steps of meditation, which is cultivation of mind/heart.

Hard Summer announces new home and dates
Dennis Romero (laweekly.com)

Hard Summer 2013 (Timothy Norris). The mega rave is coming to El Monte, L.A. for 2014 to the location that hosts the annual mega Vesak, the threefold celebration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and final nirvana.

  

Music, dance, yoga: Eat Pray Love

With Los Angeles State Historic Park closed for a one-year renovation, the Hard festivals and other big events previously held there (including FYF Fest, H20 Fest) have had to look for new venues for 2014.

Hard has solved its problem by adopting as its home for their Hard summer event -- held August 2 and 3 -- the 1,492-acre Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte, east of downtown L.A. It sounds to [L.A. Weekly] like a novel use for the public park.
 

Hindu Shiva-Shakti merging under the Moon

A source with knowledge of the news pointed to the Ticketmaster listing, saying that it wasn't initially clear if the event would face resistance from South El Monte city officials. (Hard officials will announce that news).
 
While "raves" have become a bad word with politicians around Los Angeles, Hard was purchased in 2012 by the nation's largest concert promoter, Live Nation, signaling that it's a highly professional (and money-making) operation. More

 

(Hardfest) 2014 Teaser: HARD Summer 2014 - August 2 and 3, Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. LA's largest music festival is moving to a BIGGER home just 10 minutes east of downtown L.A. at a beautiful park making the fest harder, better, bigger, and greener with more artists and more stages (facebook, twitter, instagram, soundcloud, tumblr, hardfest.com).

 

Did the Buddha dance?

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Dancing Tara Bodhisattva, Nepal (ebay.com)

Why do human beings dance? Synchronized movements, particularly to rhythmic music or a unifying beat as our cue, are a natural ritual for nonverbal expression and communication. 

 

We are making use of these incredible bodies, which may seem feeble now in the Kali Yuga ("Age of Vice" or "Dark Age") but were and will certainly be much more incredible in earlier and future Golden Ages. (It's cyclical, so all ages repeat).

 

Shakyamuni Buddha was not Shiva Nataraja ("Dancing Shiva," lit. "Shiva Lord of the Dance [of Life]"). According to Hinduism the Buddha was the ninth avatar of Vishnu, the great sustaining god. 

 

The Buddha, however, made it very clear that he is NOT a god/deva, not a messenger angel, not a mythical being, no longer an ordinary human being, not an anything other than "AWAKENED" (Dona Sutra, AN 4.36). Because of this, he came to be called the Buddha, a title which means the "Awakened One."
 

Dancing Shiva Nataraja, India

But if GOD (Brahman, godhead) is an acronym, G.O.D. -- the Generator (Brahma), Operator (Vishnu), and Destroyer (Shiva) of the universe -- then by this logic the historical Buddha was a force for the steady maintenance of this world-system, our universe or, at least, our solar system.
 
(According to whistleblower and former CIA pilot John Lear, our solar system actually has more than 30 planets, which if true might correspond to Buddhist cosmology's 31 Planes of Existence, assuming a "world-system" is only the size of a solar system rather than a galaxy, constellation/celestial sphere like Orion, or a universe).
 
So did the Buddha dance? Find out here: More

RAVE NEWS

• The Ultra Music Festival, Los Angeles (March 28, 29, 30)
• VIDEO: Electric Daisy Carnival 2014 dates announced Electric Daisy Carnival mega-rave will take place in Las Vegas from June 20 to 22, 2014, West Coast Sound has announced. Tickets start at $249 for general admission and $499 for VIP tickets, in addition to service fees. (Over 21) The lineup...
• Why Is Everyone So Pissed About the EDM Reality Show? As the Hollywood-based casting guru behind Jersey Shore and A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, Doron Ofir knows how the lowbrow culture game is played. But even the man who gave the world Snooki might have been caught off-guard by the outrage over one of his latest projects: a...
• Jason Bentley on the Music That Is the Core of His Being Our music feature this week breaks down the career of KCRW Music Director and Morning Becomes Eclectic host Jason Bentley, who has been a central figure in the L.A. electronic scene since almost before Skrillex was born. We spoke with Bentley a number of times for this story, including in... 
• Lightning in a Bottle 2014: new location and dates announced Lightning in a Bottle is moving to central California. This year's installment of the Do Lab-produced music and arts festival will take place May 29-June 1, 2014 at Monterey County's Lake San Antonio Rec Area, Bradley, California. Last year's festival, held at Temecula's Lake... 
• The Evolution of Rave Fashion When deciding what to wear to a rave, it helps first to consider your objective: Do you want to look hot? Dress for the weather? Hook up? Express your personal style? Or should your outfit simply complement the illegal drugs you plan to do? Since raves kicked off in late-1980s England, fashion trends have... 
• Here's what happened to all those people ARRESTED at Lightning in a Bottle last year Organizers recently announced that the 2014 incarnation of the arts and music festival will be held at a new location in Central California. More restrictive sound rules at last year's location were given as the reason. But the elephant in the room is all the arrests of attendees... 



Don't do bad dope, man

• Ravers and Rappers: Quit glorifying DRUGS that kill people Are ravers the modern day hippies? There are plenty of parallels, from the flower imagery to the PLUR mentality. Then, of course, there's the idea of using drugs as a path to enlightenment (or, at least, amazing vibes). But when it comes to drugs there's a key difference: The hippies were safer [using natural DMT-containing substances rather than petrochemical pharmaceuticals]...

-@West Coast Sound

TOP PIC: Downtown L.A. viewed from Native American land now L.A. State Historical Park

Did the Buddha dance? (video)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ou Lu Yang, Xochitl (ed.)

Don't lecture us, venerable sir, just show us that dance again (Dietmar Temps/flickr.com).

Tibetan Vajrayana lamas engaged in meditative Tai Chi-style movements.

Native American Apache spirit dancers, 1887, traditional ceremony (Native Skeptic)

  

Dancing Tara (liveauctioneers)

Why do human beings dance? Synchronized movements, particularly to rhythmic music or a unifying beat as our cue, are a natural ritual for nonverbal expression and communication.

 

We are making use of these incredible bodies, which may seem feeble now in the Kali Yuga but were certainly much more incredible in earlier and future Golden Ages. (It's cyclical, so all ages repeat).

Shakyamuni Buddha was not Shiva Nataraja ("Dancing Shiva," lit. "Shiva Lord of the Dance [of Life]"). According to Hinduism the Buddha was the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu, the great sustaining god. 

 

The Buddha, however, made it very clear that he is NOT a god/deva, not a messenger angel, not a mythical being, no longer an ordinary human being, and not an anything other than "AWAKENED" (Dona Sutra, AN 4.36). Because of this, he came to be called the Buddha, a title which means the "Awakened One."

 

Shiva's cosmic dance, not the Buddha's

But if GOD (Brahman, godhead) is an acronym, G.O.D. -- the Generator (Brahma), Operator (Vishnu), and Destroyer (Shiva) of the universe -- then by this logic the historical Buddha was a force for the steady maintenance of this world-system, our universe or, at least, our solar system.

• Buddhism and the God-idea

(According to whistleblower and former CIA pilot John Lear, our solar system actually has more than 30 planets, which if true might correspond to Buddhist cosmology's 31 Planes of Existence, assuming a "world-system" is only the size of a solar system rather than a galaxy, constellation/celestial sphere like Orion, or a universe).

 

So did the Buddha dance? 

Dancing 1,000-armed Kwan Yin Pusa (CTG)

No, the Buddha did not dance. There is no need to for one who has transcended materiality and mentality and reached the stillness of absorption and become the quintessence of enlightenment, no longer a slave to intellect and emotion, to clinging and suffering, to identity and to social constraints. 

 

Dancing is also outside of the Discipline (Patimokkha and  Vinaya and even excluded in the Training Rules of intensive lay practitioners during the lunar observances).

 

Dancing Tara Bodhisattva, Nepal (ebay.com)

But that is not to say Buddhists do not. Buddhists do dance! Buddhists (even bodhisattvas) do all sorts of things. Look at Kwan Yin, look at Tara, look at high lamas and other vow takers. 

 

A better question one might ask is, Did Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) dance? There were more than enough musicians and dancing girls in the palaces and at the parties, so he must have.

 

Should we as American Buddhists be stoic and guilt-ridden like our Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish cultural forbears (as typified in James Joyce's The Dead)? No, let's not do that.

 

Prince Siddhartha and the palace dancing girls

Let's be alive. Let's have bodies rather than separating from them the way early childhood trauma encourages us to do. Being "present" means being here, in the body. That is what Ram Dass meant when he distilled the message of Zen and Buddhism in general with the simple expression BE HERE NOW.

 

Flexible yogini in sitting pose (Caroline Klebl)

Let's loosen our hips. Raja (Ashtanga, Integral) Yoga and even gentle Hatha Yoga helps with that. Unclenching sphincters also helps. We are so uptight, pushing ourselves to seem ever-busy, seeming to get so much done to fulfill ourselves by waving bucket lists with lots of check marks.

 

"Breathe," Pink Floyd advises, "breathe in the air. Don't be afraid to care. Leave. But don't leave me. Look around. Choose your own ground. How you live and how you fly, the smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry, all you touch and you see is all your life will ever be...."

 

Dancing, remembering, and letting go

Then there's the advice of Deadmau5 featuring Kaskade: "Feeling the past moving in/ Letting a new day begin/ Hold to the time that you know./ You don't have to move on, but let go./ Remember turning on the night/ And moving through the morning light./ Remember how it was with you./ Remember how you pulled me through./ I remember, I remember, I remember.../ Hold to the love that you know./ You don't have to give up to let go." (Extended dance mix)

 

Dancing shakes off excess cosmic energy (shakti, feminine power, yin) from the body's spinning chakras. Then Shiva resorts to the bliss (piti and sukha) of samadhi.

  

Tibetan Monks' Trance Dance 

OuLuYang edited by Wisdom Quarterly

You should do like this, not do like that. And don't laugh, I'm serious. You're recluses now, and right and wrong must be very clear to you! Do you hear me? (overgrownpath.com)

  

The video above is a dance performed by young monastics at Ganden Sumtseling Gompa, a Buddhist monastery located north of the city of Zhongdian (Shangri-La) in Yunnan province on the southeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

 

The dance begins with one lama emerging from the main temple. His routine initially faces the temple then faces all of the directions of the wind then spirals around a central point where there is a dark quilt and wooden square (symbolizing a demon).

 

The beat of the shaman's drum (Budddhism and Bön), Lamayuru, Ladakh (Dietmar Temps)

  

The shaman's ancient drum far from Tibet

The dance accelerates and incorporates jumping. In its finale, dozens of monks join in to perform the circular dance around the quilt until, in the end, they all crowd around its center. 

 

The dance concludes with pairs of monks taking leaps at the temple, praying toward its entrance, praying away from its entrance, then jumping inside. Altogether it takes about three hours. The dance is performed annually, during a ritual in which monks dress in elaborate costumes and masks and dance around a large effigy of the demon rather than a quilt. It is very reminiscent of Native American (Hopi, Anasazi, Apache, Puebloan peoples) ceremonial dances.

 

The purpose of the dance is to contain the angry spirit of the demon, possibly to recreate the Tibetan myth of the subjugation of an angry Himalayan goddess by an Indian monk, which popularized the monk and allowed for the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. This video is an amalgamation of clips recorded during the initial monk's rehearsal for the ritual.