A Sacred and an Exciting Moment

So today was basically amazing. I went to see the visiting Tibetan Monks` Closing Ceremony and procession to Town Commons to disperse the Medicine Buddha mandala sand in to the Tar River as a sacred blessing on the land.

It was so gorgeous. The mandala itself was made by the visiting monks over the course of 3 days. It was made in 6 steps (over a total of 5 days).

Step 1 was the Opening Ceremony: The monks begin the mandala sand painting with a ceremony of chants, music and mantra recitation for blessing the cite to make it suitable for creating the mandala.

Step 2 was the Drawing of the Lines: After the opening ceremony, the monks start drawing the line design for the mandala. This is very exacting work based on sacred geometry as presented in the ancient scripture. The process takes about three hours to complete.

Step 3 was the Mandala Construction: Throughout its creation, the monks pour millions of grains of sand from traditional metal funnels called chakpur. The finished mandala is approximately five feet by five feet in size and takes three to five days of work.

Step 4 was the Mandala Completion: The monks conclude their creation of the sand mandala with a consecration ceremony to request the continuous blessings of the invoked deities of the mandala.

Step 5 was Dismantling the Mandala: During the ceremony, the monks dismantle the mandala, sweeping up the colored sands to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists. Some of the sand can be distributed to the guests observing the ceremony.

Step 6 was Dispersal of the Sand: The remaining sand is carried in a procession by the monks to the nearest moving body of water. After a brief water ceremony, the sand is poured into the water in order to purify the land and carry its blessings through the water`s cycle (water, evaporation, clouds, rain).

I unfortunately only saw Steps 4-6 since I was busy for the opening ceremony and drawing of the lines. I took pictures of the Closing ceremony, but not of the Sand Dispersal. It was gorgeous and sunny outside, which made it impossible to see the screen on my phone so I could take pictures. I did manage to get video of it, though.

My phone takes about 10min of video at a time, so it`s fragmented, but I did get lots of parts of the ceremony on my phone. I`ll be uploading them to facebook eventually. I would now but I can`t find my phone`s USB cord so I can`t transfer the videos to my laptop.

Here are some pictures:

The entire mandala

Mandala and Shrine

Detail shot of the mandala. I stress that this is HAND POURED SAND.

More mandala close up.

The monks and the mandala.

The destroyed mandala.

My Medicine Buddha sand.



All this lasted from noon til 2pm. It was such an amazing experience--I`m so glad I got to have this opportunity.

Oh, and one more thing...

I GOT ACCEPTED INTO MY MAJOR! I`m so, so excited. I got the email right after the ceremony ended. It`s like the Medicine Buddha knew I was waiting on news and made it so that I got it today.

Today was such a good day. I`m going to Chili`s with Jaimi and Cori to celebrate tonight. ;)

Stay safe and enjoy the little moments.
-ThatOneChick