Tibetan Buddhist monks have created sand mandalas for
over 2,500 years, as it remains one of the religion’s most beautiful and
symbolic traditions. Each mandala has a center point that is surrounded by a
circle, a perfectly symmetrical design of specific meaning, and an
accompaniment of various religious deities and symbols. They are created as a
representation of the universe and are said to heal the environments as well as
the individuals portrayed within them. A single mandala can take days or even
weeks to complete.
To begin the creation of a mandala, the monks
initiate an opening ceremony of mantra chanting and musical ritual to
consecrate the land on which they shall create. Then, one of the artists begins
by drawing an outline using a ruler, pen, and compass, drawing from memory
alone. Once the outline has been created, the monks work together, delicately
pouring sand onto the canvas using their tools to create a vibrant,
unimaginably detailed, three-dimensional mandala. Daily prayer and meditation
are involved in the process of creation.
When the mandala has been completed, the monks
perform a dismantling ritual where the painting is swept away in a particular
order and dispersed into the ocean as a symbol of the impermanence of life and
a demonstration of non-attachment to material objects. Fortunately, some of the
mandalas have been photographically captured in order to view the ancestral
masterpieces in their completed form.
source : ewao.com