Freedman Kids: Tibetan Sand Art: A Lesson in Temporality

Art from Around the World: An Art in Letting Go
Tibetan Mandala

I remember being about five years old walking into Kutztown University with my parents and seeing people crowding around still, robed men bending over a tall black table. From my vantage point and limited life experience, I could not figure out for the life of me what it was I was witnessing. Why had my parents brought me here? Despite this confusion, I could feel there was something special about it, something about the stillness, yet deep fascination of everyone in the room. We walked up closer to the podium and my mother picked me up in her arms so I could see. As I finally rose above the height of the table, I became absorbed in incredible colors. The robed men were Tibetan Monks, slowly and deliberately tracing a beautiful mandala pattern with colored sand. The design was so intricate, the colors perfectly composed, and the monks were so peacefully concentrated on their creation. They were in town working on this huge piece of art for nearly a month, and it was something everyone was talking about, something everyone went to see. I was so moved by watching this sand pattern unfold that I still remember it vividly today. But what happened to this work of art? At my age, growing up in western culture, this was nearly unfathomable to me: when they finished placing every grain of sand on this intricate pattern, they swept it off the table, placed it in bags, and had a ceremony at the local creek where they released all the sand into the water. They put hundreds of hours into a beautiful piece, and then let it all go.

And that is the whole concept behind the Sand Mandala. It is a tradition of Tibetan Buddhists and the act of time-consuming, peaceful creation following ritualistic “dissolution” is a practice in accepting and experiencing the transitory nature of material life. Everything comes and goes, so instead of feeling a need to preserve something once time has been put into it, they instead release it back to the earth.

The mandalas are either made with sand or natural materials like bark, roots, and pollen as well as minerals such as gypsum, charcoal, and yellow ochre. The intricate, geometric designs usually depict spiritual deities that each represent a philosophical view. To begin, a design is chosen by great teacher. Then, the monks who will be making it study the design and will draw it from memory once they are ready to begin. The process of making the sand mandala is part of the path to enlightenment for the monks making it and is meant to be purifying and healing for both the monks, other people, and the world. They believe it has healing proprieties because the mandalas emit positive energy, both to the monks and the viewers. While working, they use it as a meditation practice and thoughtfully contemplate the philosophies of the deities represented. They will also chant as they work to call for the energy of the deities and ask for them to bring healing to everyone. When they have completed the mandala, they do the dissolution ceremony that I described above. The flowing water represents both the impermanence of life and the sharing of the healing power of the mandala with the world.