Four Tibetan monks will labor for two weeks to complete this mandala, an intricate sand painting meant to instill in the viewer compassion for all living things. At the beginning and end of each day, they gather for prayer and meditation, and at the end of the two weeks, in a dissolution ceremony on October 12, all the sand will be gathered up and returned to the sea.
More details and photos are available on the Huffington Post.
does this not blow your mind?
It does.
Strange, i commented yesterday, but it vanished rather than posted. Wanted to share that i got to see a mandala up close at Nelson art gallery in KC a few yrs ago and also remember seeing ? Navajo sandpaintings in progress in AZ as a little kid. Such intricate and symmetrical designs and such concentration by the monks and medicine men. Guess i am too materialistic, ’cause could not bear to destroy one– just too beautiful.
I’ve seen and admired Indian sand paintings, but these were new to me. Also larger and more intricate, if memory serves. I couldn’t bear to destroy one either. I’ve seen some preserved — the sand somehow glued (?) in place on a rigid backing — and hung like paintings.