IJTS - Vol. 1, No. 2

[garzilli at HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU]

I am very glad to announce that the second issue of the *International 
Journal of Tantric Studies* has been published on our web pages:

http://www.shore.net/~india/ijts/

The paper of Dr. C. Cantwell is accompanied by her 18 wonderful pictures
of the Tibetan "Guru's Eight Aspects" ritual dance.

* I would like to remind you that you can search our web space by keywords.*
You will find a link to our search page in the Index of each issue.
  
You can also download an ASCII copy of the issue from our FTP server:
ftp://ftp.shore.net/members/india/

On our server you can also find fonts, utilities, and IJTS's back issues.
                     
                      ----------------------            
  IN THIS ISSUE:

- NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
- A DEB... 
- Paper: THE DANCE OF THE GURU'S EIGHT ASPECTS, by Cathy Cantwell 
- NEWS
- COMPUTER SPACE, by Ludovico Magnocavallo
- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- COPYRIGHT NOTICE
                      ----------------------
                                           
            THE  DANCE  OF  THE  GURU'S  EIGHT  ASPECTS  
                              by 
                         Cathy Cantwell

ABSTRACT
The Dance of the Guru's Eight Aspects (Guru mTshan brgyad 'chams) is 
a ritual dance which derives from the visions of the thirteen century 
Tibetan master Guru Chos-dbang. Its performance at the small 
rNying-ma-pa monastery in Rewalsar in Himachal Pradesh is described, 
along with the accompanying recitations of praises. The account is 
put into its context as a Buddhist tantric practice by a discussion 
of the tradition of 'chams, the general VajrayAna principles which 
underlie it, and the specific tantric ritual practices performed by 
the monks in preparation for the dances. How interpretations of the 
VajrayAna imagery shed light on its meaning and the significance of 
the concept of ''Liberation through seeing'' are explored.