Tibetan Mask Dance Resolve

Tibetan Mask Dance, a unique dance that is an ancient traditional culture phenomenon in Tibet and its surrounding areas, is a relic of ancient totem worship and early religious rituals. It originated from an ancient religious belief, i.e. everything has its spirit. Hunting Dance and Totem Dance, both based on this belief, provided the first foundation for Tibetan Mask Dance. As the development of human culture, Bon was born and sorcery sacrifice rituals became popular. Since dance is a primary means for sacrifice rituals, from the very beginning Bon absorbed a great deal of ancient dance and Totem Ni'shou Dance. These dances, being formalized by the Bon doctrine, became Wu Dance in Bon. The main reason that sacrifice rituals selected dance is that it is the most convenient form for a mass activity and sorcery (or religion) precisely needs the devotion of people.The spread and development of religious believes of Tibetan are closely related to the birth and development of Tibetan Mask Dance. Mask Dance, nurtured by unique geography, history, religion, and culture, is the product of conflict and mixing between local Tibetan ancient religion and foreign religion. In the 7th century A.D. the introduction and thrive of Buddhism made Tibetan Mask Dance stand out and develop into a complete system. In 779 A.D., under the guidance of Master Lian Hua'sheng the first Buddhist temple, Temple Sang'ye, with a complete set of Buddha-dharma-sangha, so called Three Treasures in Buddhism, was founded in Tibet. Buddhism, through long conflict with Bon, finally set its footing in Tibet and became Tibetan Buddhism, i.e. Lamaism. In the opening ceremony, Master Lian Hua'sheng combined Tibetan Tu'feng Dance, Ni'shou Dance, Fa'qi Dance, Gu'gu Dance, and Wu Dance in Bon and mixed them with Buddhist philosophy and his Jin'gang Li'shi Dance performed with wreath and human head skeleton to form a pantomime-like dance, i.e. Qiang'mu Dance. Qian'mu Dance is intended to suppress evil and worship gods.In the Hou'hong era of Tibetan Buddhism, Qiang'mu was widely spread and well developed. In this era, many very different denominations were born and thriving. The birth of a variety of denominations encouraged development of Tibetan Mask Dance and set the foundation for the Mask Dance in Tibetan folk opera. According to its feature, it can be categorized into Temple Mask Dance, Folk Mask Dance, and Mask Dance in Tibetan folk opera.Tibetan Mask Dance is a component of people's art in Tibetan traditional culture. Through history, it has recorded its own growth and the process of development of Tibetan as an ethnic group. Because of its unique artistic language and special folk style, Tibetan Mask Dance has become a unique art that is highly appraised by Tibetans and other peoples in the world. In today's religious rituals of Tibetan Buddhism, traditional festivals and ceremonies, and folk customs and Tibetan fold opera, we can clearly see Mask Dance in its entirety. Its long-lasting artistic life and mystery bestowed by religion are the very essence of Tibetan dance art. Research on Mask Dance will benefit us in revealing its mysterious mask and development trace, studying its deep cultural implications, and truly inheriting and protecting Mask Dance.