Tibetan Monks creating a sand mandala

Emory University, March 2010.

Each mandala design has significance and is drawn free-hand in chalk with the use of rulers and compasses. The monks then use steel cones filled with colored sand and rub sticks against them. The vibrations cause individual grains of sand to trickle out and the monks use the sand, millions of grains, to color the mandala design. It takes approximately 150 hours to complete a mandala the size. Once complete, the colored sands will be blended together, prayed over, swiped away and carried to a moving body of water. The idea is that the sands embody the prayers for peace, and by placing them in a moving body of water, the sands carry those prayers onward and impact everything they touch.

The destruction of the mandala signifies the impermanence of everything and our need to not become attached to things we create.

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Travel & Events

Tags:

• Tibet
• mandala
• sand mandala
• monk
• buddhism
• Tibetan art