Deaf, Blind and Mute transforms into 1,000 Arm Chenrezig
In 1987, the China Disabled People’s Performing Arts Troupe was formed. They are a professional performing arts troupe made up of 106 performers with hearing and/or visual impairments or physical disabilities. For the next 20 years, the 106 performers worked hard to turn professional in 2000. By 2004, they gave up their government allowance, began supporting themselves… and started raising money for charities! So beautiful no matter what angle you look at it from.
Aged between 14-19, they slowly-but-steadily learned the art of dancing through sign language with other trainers. To make up for the lack of one or more of their senses, they put in more time, effort and have immense determination. Determination is the key for all success for anyone.
For any one dance that they perform, they can spend up to one year practicing it for an average of 6-10 hours a day! Each move that they make is practiced about 100 times!!
They have acquired international recognition and have performed in highly-recognised venues such as Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Center (for Bill Clinton), the Opera House in Sydney and “The Egg” in Beijing. They have performed in more than 60 countries (10 times in the USA alone), been invited to perform at events such as the closing ceremony of the Paralympics in Athens (2004) and Miss World 2004 pageant… and was designated as “UNESCO Art for Peace” by the Director-General of UNESCO!
They have many, many beautiful performances but my favourite is called the “Thousand Hand Bodhisattva (Guan Yin)” dance. The dancers are perfectly timed and choreographed. Their body, arm and hand positions move swiftly and are always in perfect formation.
I have added the video below of 21 of the 106 performers. All 21 of them have a hearing impairment but they dance flawlessly and precisely synchronized to a Zhang Jigang-choreographed dance. Zhang Jigang is an internationally-acclaimed Chinese choreographer and a Chinese Lieutenant General.
This is a must watch video. It’s wonderful to watch them depict the beautiful 1,000 arm Avaloketishvara (Chenrezig/Guan Yin).
Would you ever know that they’re officially considered disabled?
Tsem Rinpoche
The Performance
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/AvalokiteshwaraPerformanceBuddhaofCompassion.mp4
Performers Practicing
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/ThousandHandBuddhaDisabledPeopleAssociationChina.mp4
An Interview with the Lead Dancer
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/ChineseBlindAndDeafArtistsPerformInBeijing.mp4
For more interesting information:
- 7 FEET-1000-armed Avalokiteshvara arrived!!
- Avaloketishvara, Turkey Swamp and Me.
- China’s Huge Buddha Statues
- 1000-armed Kuan Yin-Foo Hai Ch’an Monastery
- Falling down’s A Good Sign
- Holy Place of Kuan Yin
- Visiting the Huge Kuan Yin in Pinang
- Sacred Mountain of Manjushri
- Chenrezig Ngesung Kundrol
- The Buddhist Protectors of Chinese Zodiac
- Mantras-Holy words of Power
- My Short Bio in pictures
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Incredible dance troupe of Chinese deaf dancers apart from delivering a colourful evening of dance, music, song and more. Amazing…. despite obstacles the troupe serves as an inspirational reminder of what talented young artists can achieve. All these dancers take at least a year or so with incredible discipline to train as a dancer. Very impressive, feeling music through speakers and guided by hand gestures, the deaf dancers practiced it for about 6 to 10 hours a day.
Watched those beautiful videos….amazing the disabled troupe breaks barriers through art.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Very beautiful and good team work by these group full with determination .Even they are disabled… deaf, blind, mute,they perform the thousands arm Chenrezig ( Guan Yin ) dance so gracefully and beautifully for the audience.Truly amazing…watching the video their disability did not discourage them. Quoted.. determination is the key to success. that is very true.They have been training long hours, put in ,more effort with full determination to be successful.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing ,beautiful videos.
the label “disabled” is not helpful and people tend to look down on people labelled disabled. So, we practitioners can think about how to decrease the suffering that people with disabilities experience being discriminated and marginalized. Perhaps we can create different encourage admiration for people adapting to different physical and sensory conditions, who are otherwise written off as “disabled” instead of agreeing with society’s myth that this label is applicable to people who a prior have inferior capabilities..
Dear Eila,
You’re right, when people view the word “disabled’ a list of negative synonyms pops up in their mind.
Unfortunately, society has been influenced to naturally look down upon those who have, as you put it, “inferior capabilities”.
Fortunately, as time progresses, there are those who are speaking up to challenge and ultimately change those said views! This is one of H.E. Tsem Rinpoche’s latest blogpost called “The Opportunities of Adversity”.
It’s about a lady named Aimee Mullins, and she was born with a condition that resulted in both her legs being amputated. Do read the post, I think that you will like reading it as it seems to reflect the thoughts that you have expressed above. 🙂
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/current-affairs/the-opportunity-of-adversity.html
With folded hands,
Jean Mei
It is truly incredible how people with disability can produce an art that some people would think it impossible. But with determination and hard work, they managed to create such a wonderful performance.
Take for example, Nick, whom was born with physical difficulty actually changed his life to bring inspiration to millions of people (http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/people/no-arms-no-legs-full-of-life.html). I think this is a classic example of the choices we make in life… we can choose to indulge on our own self pity that we have limitations in this life, or make full use of this life in any way that we can to make a difference.
I like inspiring stories like this. It lights up my day.
This is absolutely beautiful. Its beauty is matched by no other. These people are truly amazing to be able to perform so well for the benefit of others! It is amazing how the Buddhist dances are so popular amongst chinese culture and it proves that Buddhism is a key part of China’s culture. I wonder why they chose to oppress it?
This would be incredible even if it was performed by abled-people (is that the right term?) The fact that it’s been so meticulously practiced and performed by girls who are deaf, blind and mute is even more incredible. You would never know, would you? The precision and timing is astounding which only goes to show all of us how much can be achieved if we only have focus, awareness of those around us, concentration and team work. The harmony between the dancers is especially noticeable – the way in which they coordinate and are very much in tune with each other’s movements…. while most of us stomp around the world thinking we are islands on our own, this performance shows us interdependence and interactivity in action, at its very best.
This is indeed a very beautiful piece of artwork. Without the additional explaination, we may mistake them easily as just ordinary people.
The mental toughness that these kids display makes this art beautiful, for they have to make extra efforts in order to perform well.
I am happy to see this, for they are now able to support themselves with their own efforts and their performances are recognised internationally.
Beautiful kids with stout hearts indeed!
I’ve heard of this amazing dance put up by a group of deaf, blind and mute girls. It’s truly amazing that these girls have the will power to overcome their disabilities and train for the dance up to such pristine perfection.
I can imagine the patience , love and care of their teacher(s) for these girls. Like all teacher- student relationship, these teachers must be very dedicated to their students and the students follow the teachers’ instructions 100% with complete faith.
how beautiful… impossible is nothing if one is determined to bring benefit to others. the performers put in their all to overcome their “disadvantages” to express the beauty of Chenrezig in the form of dance and art. Their will to perfect the dance is, to me, an embodiment of compassion.
This is such a beautiful dance…..and what makes it even more beautiful is that all these dancers are not normal people like us, who can hear the music and dance to the beat. They have hearing problems.
And yet, there performance is even more remarkable and beautifully synchronised than any normal dance troup.
Yes, Rinpoche is right, determination is the key to success. All they need is just more time and effort to be put in the practice and they excel beyonds our expectation!
Just beautiful!
Really amazing dance….
I watched their performance at Bukit Jalil a few years back when they came to perform. It was truly wonderful!
1000-armed Kuan Yin is a most beautiful dance. It’s amazing how Buddhism is so entrenched in Chinese psyche and culture. Even one of its most recognizable cultural expression is inherently Buddhist and for the Chinese to accept Buddhism is the most amazing thing and it says more about Buddhism than abou the culture adopting it.
Chinese has over 5000 years of history and they inherently think they are superior to other cultures. Hence, they considered their civilisation is the center of their universe by calling their kingdom, the middle kingdom (chung kuo). A resilient and unified culture for centuries, their are proud and arrogant especially towards all things foreign. For Buddhism to have infiltrated China, they must have seen something sublime in the teachings of the Buddha. The Chinese scholars must have realised the universality of Buddha’s teachings.
Buddhism was initially a scholar’s faith as only the scholar could comprehend its scriptures that define this new faith. However, over time and with the appearance of many practical teachers who emphasise the humane aspects of Buddhism, Buddhism became mainstream, entrenching itself into the mass consciousness of the Chinese people.
Avalokiteshvara, an abstract and male Bodhisattva embodying compassion of Indian Buddhism became female, maternal and developed into the female white-robed Kuan Yin. There are many stories that explain the origin of Kuan Yin but whatever it is, the female, gentle, compassionate, strong, protective and maternal Kuan Yin, deified as the Goddess of Mercy is now an easily recognizable symbol of indigenous Chinese Buddhism.
Very graceful indeed. Kechara has its own pride and joy dancing troupe – the Dakinis. Yeh yeh yeh!
Absolutely beautiful!!!