Sacred Dances of Tibet

A note from the filmmaker, Jon Weinberger: In the spring of 1972, the Eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche (Khamtrul Rinpoche Dongyü Nyima 19311980) sent a telegram inviting myself and my wife, Lynn, to come to the performance of Cham Tibetan: འཆམ, sacred lama dance at his monastery in Tashi Jong in Himachal Pradesh, India. This particular series of Cham is based on a vision of Ngawang Kunga Tenzin, the Third Khamtrul Rinpoche (16801728). Over a threeday period we recorded the performance on what at the time was the only portable domestic video recorder available on the market. This was a 1, 2inch Sony reel to reel black and white video tape recorder and camera. When we were back in the United States two years later, we transferred the tape to 2inch videotape for editing and mixed in color slides. The voiceover commentary in the film was based on teachings given by Drugu Choegyal Rinpoche.