Four Tibetan Buddhist monks — Venerable Gelong Kalsang Rinpoche, Venerable Lama Nawang Thogmed, Lama Nawang Samten Lhundrup, and Lama Dorji Sherpa — will create an elaborate sand mandala in the Lobby Gallery of the UCLA Hammer Museum. Beginning Sept. 27, the monks will construct a sacred sand painting embodying compassion. Millions of grains of colored sand will be sprinkled carefully on a flat surface over the course of two weeks, following precise and ancient instructions passed down over thousands of years.
The mandala that the Lamas will make this fall represents Chenrezig, the embodiment of the compassion of all Buddhas combined. The creation of this mandala is intended to help the viewer generate boundless compassion for all beings. Visitors can watch the Lamas create the mandala and may join the Lamas in prayer and meditation intended to help bring to mind the qualities of the Buddha of Compassion. After spending two weeks creating the mandala with intense concentration, the final grains of sand are placed and then the entire sand painting is swept up in a final display of impermanence. The Lamas and visitors will then bring the collected sand to the ocean and offer it as a blessing as part of the dissolution ceremony.
The mandala is a profound, universal symbol that translates literally to “center and its surroundings” and is a physical representation of our interdependence with the world around us. Mandalas are found in many forms, but always include a circle, a central point, and some form of symmetry. They can be created in sand, on paper or cloth, or built as 3-dimensional models or buildings. The vivid painted mandalas of Tibet are the most widely known.
Traditionally created as a tool for visualization and meditation, every single detail of a mandala — the design, the colors, and placement of symbols — is deliberate. The blueprints are considered sacred, with many layers of deep meaning and positive representation. Before beginning, traditional mandala artists generate the intention to benefit others and the motivation of compassion, which is believed to infuse the art or structure with unique spiritual and sacred qualities.
See this schedule of events.
