Mandala Sand Painting – Closing Ceremony

Tibetan Monks to Create Sand Mandala at Elms College

Elms College will be hosting a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery from September 30 to October 4. During that week, the Tibetan Monks will construct a Mandala Sand Painting in the Alumnae Library on the Elms College campus.  

Of all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, the painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform to form the image of a mandala. To date, the monks have created mandala sand paintings in more than 100 museums, art centers, and colleges and universities in the United States and Europe. 

In general, all mandalas have outer, inner and secret meanings. On the outer level, mandalas represent the world in its divine form. On the inner level, they represent a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into an enlightened mind. Mandalas on the secret level depict the primordially perfect balance of the mind and body. The creation of a sand painting is said to effect purification and healing on all three levels. 

The lamas begin the exhibit by drawing an outline of the mandala on the wooden platform. On the following days they lay the colored sands. Each monk holds a traditional metal funnel called a chakpur while running a metal rod on its grated surface. The vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid onto the platform.