Sword Dance (Driging) –The second segment of the dance is also known as Driging or the ‘Sword Dance’ and dancers emerge from the changing room wearing red wrathful masks and carrying a sword in their right hand. They all dance with very wrathful emotions and body movements. This dance also contains three sections: cutting, subduing and liberating the spirit. The red wrathful mask represents discriminating wisdom and transforming the great compassionate mind into a wrathful form in order to subdue the evil spirit which could not be tamed by the power of peaceful deities. These masks have three eyes which represent the enlightened ones’ eyes which have the ability to see clearly all three realms at the same time. During the cutting section of the dance, all sixteen dancers gather again using wrathful steps and leaping towards the centre where an effigy is kept in a small triangular box and which represents the malevolent spirit. The sword symbolizes the self-arising wisdom which cuts through all delusions in a single stroke. The five skull crowns on the top of the mask symbolize the Buddha family of Five Kayas. The second section of subduing is the dance in which the true nature of phenomena is dissolved into one true perfect nature and purity. Following this, the dancers once again enter the changing room to prepare for their next performance.
