I was doing some reading earlier this morning on jung after I reached the point of his mandala on the self, I decided to look up mandala... (foriegn concept obviously) As I was searching and understanding the meaning of the mandala, I found some interesting things about the 'sand mandala'. A beautiful work of art is painstakingly created by the lamas: Look at the closeup - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Sand_mandala_tibet_2.jpg They do this by funneling grains of sand through a cone, scraping the rigid edges of he funnel allowing the grains to flow out like water. The whole process takes days, after they've created their mandala, shortly after it is destroyed, a lesson on the imperminance of life. Am I the only one that finds that incredibly profound?
No, you aren't the only one. I am amazed at this practice everytime I read about it. It is a wonderful practice in meditation for the monks and the idea of the impermance of beauty (and in general) is a great lesson. I am afraid to say that I forget that the beauty of a rose is short lived. I don't appreciate the rose while it's in full bloom as much as I should. To see someone pour hours of work into something that beautiful and have the ability to destroy it...! I am amazed at the monks everytime I think of that. Supposedly they come out to MIT on a yearly basis, I am going to make an effort this year to go check it out. They always commit the sands to the Charles in the ceremony. Though, do you think taking pictures take the point of the mandala away? It will exist forever in some form...I wonder what the answer to that would be.
The point of the exercise is that for a moment awareness of the mandala or the fundamental forces are pristinely clear, but even that should not be held onto. It's not the monks taking pictures so their practice remains unaffected.
The thought that they have no qualm with destroying something that they've created is amazing. I can definitely see the purpose of such an exercise, but I'm not artistically inclined enough to create something like that. Are there other similar exercises that don't require as much artistic ability?
Seems like it wouldn't have the same effect as it wouldn't take nearly as much time or effort. Unless of course it's a few thousand dominos. Then again the whole point of setting up dominos like that is to knock them down anyway, is it not?
ooo..I would like to see that...please let me know if you find out when they are doing that. I go to BU... And its amusing that it goes in the Charles...lots of interesting things go in there...the BU Hindu Students throw their puja flowers into the Charles, the Wiccan students sail their boats of life in there, ect... lol
I've seen a film of Lamas doing this in northern India. I'm divided in my feeling over it - ok, so it shows that all is change, we can't hang onto stuff etc, but also another part of me says it is a total waste of energy and effort...
Oooh I have seen some really excellent sand mandalas in Tibet. They were at least 10 times as big as the one in the photograph and those monks were like putting one grain of sand at a time in the mandala. Intriguing.
If a work of art is created and allowed to continue to exist it may have some effect on people who see it even centuries later. That is less a waste of time IMO.
Yes, I spend about 2 months in Tibet. Extremely beautiful country, charismatic and raw, charming and empty. Hitched and hiked around there, got send back by some idiotic Chinese policeguys or military guys a couple of times because foreigners are not allowed to go just anywhere. Drank the worst drink in the world; yakbutter tea and lived on instant noodles and barley flour for quite some time in the mountains. Fun times, awesome country, beautiful people, wonderful culture, sad to see how China destroys it all. Both spiritual as material. Most monasteries and temples and such are in ruins and in cities like Lhasa and Shigatse you already see more Chinese people than Tibetan and I guess around 90% of all businesses are run by the Chinese. Oh and I met the Dalai Lama too, but that was in McLeod Ganj/Dharamsala in India.
do you by chance have any photos of these mandalas that you could put up for us to see? <--- loves mandalas
I wouldn't say its a symbol of the fact that everything we do is a "waste of effort". I see it more as a symbol that we should not expect anything to last forever despite the effort put into it. If the purpose of the mandala were to create a worky of beauty to be observed by others until the end of time, yet it were destroyed shortly after creation, then it would be a wasted effort. However that is not the purpose, and since the purpose of making the mandala is to teach a less the effort is far from wasted as long as those who create it realize the lesson that can be learned.
No, I am not much of a photographer. I rather enjoy things in the moment than to capture it for later. Also in a lot of places you are not allowed to take photographs.
i can understand that. i used to be the same way, then i decided that i want to have some images to share with other pple and as reminders to self. it is kind of irritating sometimes to have a camera attached to my hand and to be looking at the camera instead of experiencing what's going on, so yeah, anyways bummer though, i bet that they were amazing
