The dance of the Eight Manifestations is the most intense moment of the festival. Close to two hundred monks participate in the dance, in front of a spellbound, devoted audience. Padmasambhava, accompanied by his two principal companions the queen of Tibet Yeshe Tsogyal and the Indian princess Mandarava, King Trisong Detsen, Abbot Shantarakshita, followed by the Eight Manifestations and a vast procession—all emerge from the temple and take their places on a throne that has been erected in the middle of the courtyard beneath a parasol of multicolored silks. Tibetan monastery of Shechen, Nepal.