Give me a broom
Are you familiar with sand mandalas?
Well it is a Tibetan Buddhist art form over 2000 years old.
Basically a sand mandala is a intricate circular sand sculpture full of colors and extreme details.
The monks spend literally two solid weeks building these amazing sand sculptures which can be as large as 8 feet in diameter.
Beginning of this process is filled with prayer and chants for blessings over the process, themselves and those around the process.
Tibetan Buddhists strive to develop “Compassion and Loving-kindness” toward all beings, and their goal is to end suffering in the world.
Not a bad life goal.
The true beauty is at the end of their process.
After two weeks of extreme detail and patient work is when the true lesson is learned…
The monks sweep away and destroy the mandala. Nothing left. Just a mess of incoherent colored sand.
This illustration teaches their central tenant of impermeance of all things! Even those things of beauty.
How often do I build horribly crass, diluted and perverse (non holy) mandalas in my life metaphorically? I think I have been for a year or so now.
I’m ready for what I’ve sculpted in my life to be swept away. However, the big lesson in the process for the monks is in the long drawn out process itself. Knowing the ends teaches reminds these monks of the importance of non-attachment without sacrificing passion.
The monks say that it is all right to feel sad when the mandala is destroyed, and that the sadness proves that “when you feel more, it shows that your heart is functioning, rather than like a stone”
The lessons I’ve learned have been taken to heart, and the mistakes I’ve made have been recognized. All is not lost. My life in a sense is my mandala. Although not a magnificient work of meaningful art it seems…nonetheless it is what I’ve built.
Time to sweep things away.
bgh
cf. Luke 9.22-26
3 years ago