Jambhala in Dance: The Wealth Deity in Cultural Heritage

In connection with the offering rituals to the wealth deity in Tibet, the welcoming of Jambhala on the fifth day of the first lunar month is a major folk custom during the Spring Festival in Han Chinese regions, where Jambhala generally denotes the "Five Roads to Wealth" deities of the Han belief system. Additionally, two Tibetan wealth deities—Vaisravana and Palden Lhamo—have already been covered in our earlier articles.

Built nearly 700 years ago, the Cham dance ritual honoring Vaisravana at Shalu Monastery in the Tsang region was founded by the eminent Tibetan scholar Butön Rinchen Drub (བུ་སྟོན་རིན་ཆེན་གྲུབ). Every year, from the 13th through the 15th day of the 12th month in the Tibetan calendar, this historic monastery holds a grand celebration called the "Namse Chopa" (རྣམ་སྲས་མཆོད་པ), an offering ceremony dedicated primarily to Vaisravana, performed as a Cham dance (འཆམ).

It is understood that the Namse Chopa ceremony was founded in 1353 by the 64-year-old master Butön, with the help of his eminent disciple Rinchen Namgyal (ལོ་ཙྭ་བ་རིན་ཆེན་རྣམ་རྒྱལ). As for the yearly schedule, the preparations get underway on the 10th day of the 12th Tibetan lunar month and run for a total of 8 days until the event concludes. Days 4 and 5 are reserved for the official public performances.

Within the slate courtyard of Shalu Monastery, the monks who perform the Cham dance begin their opening rites at daybreak, when the first sunlight crests the eastern mountains, before the thangka of dual-aspect Vaisravana. They then go back to the Dukhang assembly hall to take their vows, and only after the Umdze (དབུ་མཛད)—the master of ceremonies—issues the command does the performance truly commence. The troupe in this performance numbers over 50 monks.

The event boasts a wide range of Cham dances—as many as 15 distinct types—featuring tigers, lions, garudas, deer, and monkeys. In contrast to other dances, its steps are more solemn and dignified, and certain segments are interactive, offering substantial entertainment value.

As noted at the start, Shalu Monastery's Namse Chopa—focused on Vaisravana—is an uncommon Cham dance style. In the course of the Cham dance performance, costumes and props of upper, middle, and lower grades are employed in sequence, together with instruments such as long horns, flutes, conch shells, thighbone trumpets, cymbals, and ritual staffs.

Within Buddhist discourse, Vaisravana—referred to as "Vaiśravaṇa" in classical writings—occupies an elevated position as a dharma protector directly appointed by Shakyamuni Buddha. His iconography varies widely, though the standard form shows a yellow-faced, two-armed figure seated atop a lion, with a victory banner in his right hand and a jewel-spitting mongoose in his left.

Based on documents, statues, and murals unearthed in Dunhuang, scholars have found that Vaiśravaṇa—also known as Kubera or the Heavenly King of Abundant Blessings—was historically associated more often with people's hopes for national protection and the welfare of the populace. Though he has long been revered as a symbol of wealth throughout Tibet, South Asia, and Central China, he is equally a symbol of power in reality.

Thus, the Langsai Quba at Shalu Monastery embodies not only favorable weather, plentiful harvests, and ample grain stores, but also the aspiration for political accord, national prosperity, and the safety and well-being of the populace. As we noted in our previous year's article, from a Buddhist standpoint, the pursuit of wealth is fundamentally a way to aid others rather than a goal in itself. With regard to the term "Cham," in Tibetan it specifically denotes a distinct form of sacred dance.

Cham dance in Tibet has an exceptionally long history. Even though the themes of different Cham performances may differ, their overall style of presentation remains largely the same. Dancers wear specific masks and costumes, use matching musical instruments, and take part in dancing, rituals, and interactive portions.

Samye Monastery, the first monastic institution in Tibetan history, was completed in 775 AD. Its establishment—a major milestone in Tibetan cultural history—is closely connected to the mainstream adoption of this folk religious ritual. The renowned Tibetologist Dungkar Lobsang Thrinle, citing terms like "Shenrab Nine Cham" (གཤེན་རབ་དགུ་འཆམ) in Tibetan Bon religious texts, maintains that the ritual existed in the local Tibetan region well before the Tibetan Empire.

Later scholars consider the first occurrence of Cham dance in Tibet to be a Vajra dance performed under the guidance of Padmasambhava and Śāntarakṣita. As recounted in *The Testament of Padma* (*པདྨ་བཀའ་ཐང*) and *The Five Testaments* (*བཀའ་ཐང་སྡེ་ལྔ*), this dance was presented both at the groundbreaking ceremony in 736 and at the subsequent celebration of its completion.

According to Dungkar Lobsang Thrinle, the Cham dance of that era belonged to the aforementioned Bon tradition rather than to the Cham within the later Buddhist system, since the two differ considerably in both content and structure. Nevertheless, the Cham dance at Samye Monastery has been handed down through the generations and remains one of the best-known among the Cham traditions of Tibet.

At Samye Monastery, the Cham dance is performed according to the layout of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, and the performers' masks, distinguished by color, represent pacifying, increasing, magnetizing, and destroying. In its forms, the Cham dance—unlike ordinary folk dances—is viewed in Buddhism as intrinsically continuous with the early yogic traditions of Hinduism and the dance forms of Shiva. Additionally, its characters and themes are closely linked to Tantric scriptures.

In modern times, Cham dance—a distinctive Tibetan art form—has taken on significance that goes well beyond its initial intent. Performers must master three basic skills, collectively known as "dance, drawing, and chanting" (གར་ཐིག་དབྱངས་གསུམ): dancing, drawing, and reciting. The specific Cham dances a monastery can stage are determined by its available resources. For instance, Palyul Monastery conducts the peaceful and wrathful (ཞི་ཁྲོ) Cham rituals twice annually, and at its height the number of participants has reached as many as one hundred.

The God of Wealth in Art attracts surrounding communities, thereby playing a major role in local economic development, while also embodying deeper implications of classical aesthetics and philosophy. As a result, it has for a long time been listed as both a world-class and national-level intangible cultural heritage.