Sacred Buddhist Dance of Nepal: Vajrayogini

Eight Video Lessons with Prajwal Vajracharya

Charya Nritya Dance, a unique Newari Buddhist Nepali tradition dating back over a thousand years that uses the physical body as a vehicle for liberating the mind. By uniting movement, visualization, and awareness, one learns to emulate and then fully embody the qualities of the variety of Buddhist deities — male and female, peaceful and wrathful — and to genuinely express those enlightened qualities through one’s own body, speech, mind, and activities. 

In this eight week course, we will learn the complete dance of Vajrayogini, the wrathful red dakini:

"The dancing red Goddess, Vajrayogini is reality. Bright red, dancing joyfully, without shame or fear, glorying in her femaleness, she personifies the feminine energy pulsating at the heart of reality. What does her iconography tell us about relity? When we see her dancing, red as fire, red as rubies, red as blood, we are to understand that this energy, the essence of the world is blissful, radiant, and pure and that it can be encountered directly in a naked, dancing, female body."


PRE-REQUISITES:

Before purchasing this course, it is highly encouraged to complete the 12-lesson course, Foundations of Sacred Buddhist Dance of Nepal


INCLUDED IN THIS COURSE

  • Eight Live Interactive Webinars with Prajwal Vajracharya
  • Audio Files of Charya Dance Songs
  • Articles on the history and tradition of Charya Dance
  • Additional Resources


A Certificate of Completion will be issued to those who complete the content included in this course.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to the course!

    • Welcome

    • Online Classroom Etiquette & Technical Requirements

    • Navigating this Learning Platform (Video)

    • Navigating this Learning Platform (PDF)

    • ZOOM LINK
  • 2

    COURSE LIBRARY

    • Articles about the Charya Nritya Dance Tradition of Nepal

    • Charya Dance Songs Used in this Course (Audio MP3)

    • Sadhanas/ Prayers Used in this Course
  • 3

    LIVE CLASSES

    • Class One

    • Class Two

    • Class Three

    • Class Four

    • Class Five

    • Class Six

    • Class Seven

    • Class Eight

Instructor

Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya

Prajwal is a 35th generation Tantric Buddhist priest from Nepal and a ritual master both of the Charya Nritya dance tradition and other ritual forms performed by the Newar Vajracharya lineage. Prajwal began his training in Charya Nritya, the dance aspect of Newar Buddhism, from the age of eight, receiving formal instruction from his father, the Buddhist scholar and ritual master Ratna Kaji Vajracharya. Prajwal Vajracharya is now the premier teacher, practitioner, and performer of the tradition and is a veteran of several world tours with beginning and advanced students around the globe. He founded Dance Mandal: Foundation for Sacred Buddhist Arts of Nepal to preserve and expand this rare art form and its related traditions. With the survival of this sacred ritual dance threatened by modernization, Prajwal, at his father’s wishes, has dedicated his life to bringing this unique Buddhist heritage from the temples of Nepal to the world, while adhering to its original purpose as a profound spiritual practice.

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