Tibetan Lamas (that’s with ONE “L”) Perform @ Disney Concert Hall

This past Saturday my family enjoyed the scenery and arts in Uptown LA. On a lark, I found a blurb about a free concert taking place as a part of World City -

the free performances by international groups held at Disney Concert Hall’s outdoor amphitheater. I am all about sharing cultural expressions

with my family and when I read that this months performance was going to be the Mystical Arts of Tibet -trained and esteemed Lamas (the Tibetan Buddhist word for Monks) who dance, sing, chant and play instruments) I knew spiritual messages would be conveyed as well. This group has sold out shows at Kennedy Center, the Lincoln center and more. I had personally seen monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery perform before on the East Coast and in DC.

I have personally seen monks from this monastery perform numerous times on the East coast. I’ve even reviewed them for an arts periodical I wrote for years ago. But now I was excited to share this with my family. And they all loved it. Click on any of the below cropped images to see full picture.

: UPtown Library

: Fountain & Steps across from Library

: Fountain to Play in

: Dalai Lama Procession

: Can you Find Aran & Ula?

: Helping Invoke Powers of Good

: Black hat Dancers

: Snow Lion Dance

: Unfurling “World Peace”

: Dance of the Skeleton Lord

: Charged up after chanting with Monks

: Aran & the Girls Craft Hard

: Ula decorates her rock

: Mom finds the Letterbox

: Ula Stamps her Letterbox

: Stilted Woman of Disney Concert Hall

: Making their own Prayer Flags

To complement the performances, the Music Center offers pre- & post-family workshops that relate to the experience in a wonderful way in the Blue Ribbon Garden right next to the Amphitheater. Aran and the girls decorated their own stones with Tibetan words on them for Peace, Spirit, Mind and Body. While they worked on this, I went in search of the Letterbox that is planted on the grounds of the outdoor portion of the Disney Concert Hall grounds. You can see that I found it and Ula and I stamped the letterbox in both of our letterbox books.

The second craft that I did with the girls was to make our own Tibetan Prayer flags. You may have seen these in numerous places or on the homes around LA and you may have wondered What are Tibetan Prayer Flags?

The Tibetan word for prayer flag is “Lung ta”, meaning, “Wind Horse”. And you can see the center of each flag has a drawing of a wind horse. And each flag is a different color because : Blue represents Space, White represents Water, Red represents Fire, Green represents Air & Wind and Yellow represents Earth. When wind blows (expressing the quality and nature of mind) the sacred prayer flag flap in the breeze. So the movement in essence activates images and symbols on the flag and sends the prayer out into the world.

The prayers contained on the flag are carried out to all beings as a blessing. Seeing the flag also has a practical benefit of reminding people to be mindful as they go about their business. And the children got to add whatever words, symbols or feelings they wanted to add to their flag.

https://www.hitherandyon.com

For more information on Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism (yes this is the Dalai Lama’s Culture and Religion) go to…www.theDalaiLama.com or www.tibet.com or for a Website for kids on Tibet.

I would be remiss to not make a global comment about the Tibetan people in exile as well as those still in the land that IS Tibet, but politically occupied by China. In 1950, China invaded Tibet, by 1959 destruction was at such a level that the Dalai Lama (political and spiritual leader of Tibet) escaped like many refugees before and after him and presently lives in India where many monasteries of Tibet have resettled. This means that lives were ended, people imprisoned and tortured, monasteries destroyed and scriptures, artifacts, books, paintings of worship were destroyed as well. In the past decade China has populated cities like Lhasa in Tibet (Lhasa would be like Washington D.C for us, and the Potala Palace would be the Dalai Lama’s White House). The celebrations occurring all over the world this year 2009, in honor of China’s 60th anniversary of their present government represents to me only one thing – the horrendous crimes they committed in taking Tibet, a large nation, by force 50 years ago. In 1989, thirty years after his country was taken, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for leading his nation in exile in peaceful, nonviolent means as well as setting an example for the entire world ((ironic that Obama receives the Nobel Prize 20 years after that).

Now back to World City Concerts for Families! For those of you interested in sharing a great experience like this concert & crafting with your family, the next Free concert is November 14th, 2009 with two shows – one at 11am and the next at 12:30 pm. The performers will be Barynya - a unique group of top Russian, Cossack, and Ukranian dancers and musicians.

The show is free and there are no reservations. Tickets are distributed an hour before the show at the Disney Concert Hall on the corner of Grand and 2nd street (that means 10am for the 11 am show and 11:30 am for the 12:30 pm show). And they do not allow anyone to stand in line before 9am which is wonderful for families like mine who came in from the west valley. Aran dropped me off at 9 am and I was 4th in line and was shaded by the umbrellas they leave for us. And while I had the best time chatting with some lovely families in line, Aran and the girls spent their time at the Downtown library only a few blocks away.

And there is one shot of this fabulous woman on stilts who was dressed up as the concert hall herself. My girls were excited to show her each of their crafts they made that day. She seemed to make our day all the more special. Thank you!

Marie Clary

October 10, 2009 at 10:14 am

Every time I look at your postings here, Jessica, I learn something (or two or three)new. Your presentation is wonderful. It’s easy to navigate and understand. The photos are terrific. Your comments about the different events are insightful and educational. Ula and Esme are very lucky little girls as well as all the others who benefit from this. I look forward to each new posting. Thanks for all your hard work!