Tibetan monks create colorful sand painting, promote compassion at Coral Springs museum

Photo gallery from the Dissolution Ceremony of the monks’ 2017 Sacred Art Tour at Coral Springs Museum of Art by Fran Davis. Here the monks are nearing completion of the manada, which is created by vibrating a tool against metal cones to release a few grains of sand at a time,

Last year, the theme of the mandala done at the tour was healing;this year, the museum chose compassion as the theme. The mandala really represents an aerial view of a specific Buddha dwelling, in this case, the Temple of Compassion. the four rectangular sections represent doorways. — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

Close-up, showing detail and bas relief on the mandala. — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

Standing altar behind the mandala.

The ceremony of release and dissolution starts. — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

The monks are seated around the mandala with horns, drums and smbols; we are seated behind them — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

A flower is cast into the sand as the first step of dissolution.

The spiral brushing and gahering of the sand. — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

Only the flower is left where there was once 100s of hours of work. — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

The urn carrying the sand is taken outside in a procession to the water behind the museum. — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

A final blessing upon the sacred sand before it is released into the water. — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

The release of the sand … — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

…and the return — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

6 of the 8 monnks that visited with South Florida for 6 days. I’m so glad I met them, — at Coral Springs Center For The Arts.

After the crowd left , I went back to the site from a different angle and said my own private prayer for compassion and peace. Fran Davis, January 2017

By Craig Davis, Craigslegz.com

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla.

Watching Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery begin work on a sacred mandala sand painting designed to promote compassion in the world couldn’t have been better timed than the week of the presidential inauguration.

The spiritual creation is the centerpiece of the Sacred Art Tour at the Coral Springs (Fla.) Museum of Art, Jan. 17-22, 2017.

The mandala is an ancient art form in Tibetan Buddhism in which colored sands are used in a painstaking process to create an intricate mural with spiritual significance. Each design has a different meaning, conveys a distinctive influential energy.

Last year the monks created a healing mandala at the Coral Springs event. The Buddha of Compassion (Chenrezig) was chosen for this year in light of everything going on the world, a museum official said.

The juxtaposition of events also brought to mind a memorable episode of the Netflix show “House of Cards” in which a similar group of Tibetan monks created a mandala sand painting inside the White House of fictional President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey).

The set piece served as a metaphor for the theme of the episode, “Nothing is Forever.”

Every mandala is stunning in its beauty and complexity. Each meets the same fate.

As soon as it is completed, the millions of grains of sand that make up the design are swept away to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists. The sand is then poured into a nearby river or stream to enable the waters to spread the spiritual message from the artwork.

Hopefully, some of the vibe that the Tibetans refer to as Chenrezig can find its way into the collective consciousness. That is what, in their view, comes from those who sincerely act for the benefit of others without concern for fame, profit, social position or recognition.

That feeling, at least, was in the air on a weekday morning when the eight monks strolled through the Peace Garden outside the museum in Coral Springs before beginning their ritual blessing of the mandala. That ceremony took place seated around the board that would become the mandala over the next few days.

These monks are on a tour of the United States to raise funds to support more than 2,000 of their brethren — Tibetan monk refugees as well as others from the Himalayan region of India, Mongolia and Russia — at their monastery in South India.

Their melodic chants were soothing, uplifting. For a moment all the cacophony and conflict that is so difficult to avoid these days seemed to melt away.

Peace of mind is where you create it for yourself. It was easier to find in this setting.

The monks begin the painstaking process of creating the mandala by sketching out the design on a board.

The monks begin the painstaking process of creating the mandala by sketching out the design on a board.

The monks were to do a blessing of the mandala each morning before resuming their work. A time-lapse video of the creation of the mandala will be accessible on the museum website.

Visitors can watch the progress at the museum and take part in related events and workshops throughout the week — the schedule is on the museum Facebook page and website.

The mandala dissolution ceremony will be at 3 p.m. on Jan. 22 when the monks will destroy their creation while distributing its karma as a vessel of positive change by scattering the sand into the stream behind the museum.

If only their next gig was scheduled for the White House.