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The finished mandala was beautiful and
perfect. Much care and devotion went into it.
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The red petals of the "flower" each have
a symbol on them, dharma wheel, flaming sword, lotus flower, wish
fulfilling jewels and dorje. These represent the five
families of the Buddha.
Click
here to download a short video clip of the dharma wheel being
made. |
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On the outer corners, is a symbol that is a
combination of the dorje, which represents wisdom, and the moon,
which represents compassion. This is an important symbol
because it reminds us that too much of one thing is bad- we need
to remember balance. Wisdom without compassion or compassion
without wisdom are not good, with balance and a combination of the
two, we are better off. Also on the outer edge are flowers.
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The monks brought an interpreter with them this
year. She was a Tibetan woman with a lovely accent and
smile! She patiently explained things and answered question
and interpreted for the monks. One of the things she
explained to people was that the mandala isn't actually flat, the
lines are actually raised piles of sand. |
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When the mandala was finished, the monks did
some chants and prayers. The sound of these are hard to
describe, sort of eerily timeless. After the chants and
prayers, the head monk walks around the mandala and takes a
pinch of sand from each of the symbols representing the five
Buddha families. Then he takes his dorje and makes
straight line cuts through the sand. At this point it's
all done and the only thing left is to sweep up the
sand.
Click
here to download a short video of the sweeping of the
mandala (I apologize for it's being sideways, little did I
realize I couldn't edit it to fix that!). |
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So once again, we saw the monks make a beautiful
and devotional thing, and then prove to us westerners that nothing
lasts forever. The Buddhist idea of impermanence was shown
again. Such an important lesson! |
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| Now go see the
Cham! |
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