Tibetan Monks Making Sand Mandala at NWMSU

Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in southwest India create an intricate and beautiful sand mandala using only sand.

"A mandala -- the Sanskrit word for circle -- is a complex concentric image signifying the completion or essence of all things. The symbol has had spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism for centuries. Sand mandalas, known in Tibet as dul-tson-kyil-khor ("mandala of colored powders"), are highly detailed and take several days to construct. They are considered by the monks and other followers of Tibetan Buddhism to be vehicles for generating compassion and social, cosmic and environmental healing.

The original Drepung Monastery was founded in 1416 near Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and was once home to more than 10,000 monks. After China invaded Tibet in 1950, the countrys political and spiritual leader, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was forced to flee the country in 1959. The Dalai Lama and a small number of followers settled in northern India, where they were soon followed by thousands of refugees. In 1969, the few surviving Gomang monks were given 42 acres of land in Mundgod, south India, where they rebuilt Drepung Gomang. Located near the coast of the Indian Ocean between Mumbai and Bangalore, the monastic college is currently home to 1,500 monks."

http://www.nwmissouri.edu/universityrelations/news/newsreleases/090413tibetmo...

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