Photo copyright Anandha Ray, Nouveau Devadasi 2013
A Newar Buddhist priest, the well-known dancer and international teacher Prajwal Vajracharya, will be offering a weekly three-month online course, Sacred Buddhist Dance of Nepal, in collaboration with host Yangchenma Arts and Music, from 20 February–8 May.
Prajwal is a 35th generation tantric Buddhist priest, and a ritual practitioner of mandalas, mantra,
mudra, and dance. Newar Buddhism is considered to be the oldest known extant form of Buddhist practice. It has been preserved in two dedicated Nepalese family clans: the Vajracharya and Shakya. The Vajracharya clan today includes the priest Prajwal, his uncle a Sanskrit scholar in Liepzig, and his brother, Gautum Ratna Vajracharya, one of the top traditional painters in Nepal. In this ancient form of Buddhist transformation, dating back to at least the sixth century, it is recalled that the Buddha’s enlightenment was an experience not an idea.