Tibet

Special Guest Presentation: Healing the Earth: Sacred Art by the Tibetan Lamas of Drepung Loseling
Monastery
April 14-17, 2010
Convocation on April 15, 2010

From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most exquisite. In Tibet, this art is called "dul-tson-kyil-khor," which
literally means "mandala of colored powders." Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks.

Formed of a traditional prescribed iconography that includes geometric shapes and a multitude of ancient spiritual symbols, the sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for re-consecrating the earth and its
inhabitants. On previous US tours the lamas have displayed this sacred art in museums across the country. After an opening ceremony, which includes traditional singing the lamas lay the colored sands by pouring the sand from traditional metal funnels called chak-pur. Each monk holds a chak-pur in one hand, while running a metal rod on its grated surface; the vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid.

Traditionally, sand mandalas are destroyed shortly after their completion. This is done as a metaphor of the impermanence of life. At the closing ceremony, The sands are swept up and placed in an urn; to fulfill the function of healing, half is distributed to the audience at the closing ceremony, while the remainder is carried to a nearby body of water, where it is deposited. The waters then carry the healing blessing to
the ocean, and from there it spreads throughout the world for planetary healing.

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