Galloway, N.J. - Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery spent a week creating an intricate sand mandala in the Campus Center Grand Hall, a location where the community could take a moment from their busy schedules to watch and appreciate their painstaking and peaceful work. 

Sand grains slowly fell into place as the monks used metal rods to create vibrations on the ridged metal funnels that held the sand. The gentle scratching sounds drifted through the hall. The community gathered for an opening and closing ceremony to listen to the monks pray and to witness another culture. 

The monks hosted a tea ceremony, taught a cooking class, showed students how to paint mantras on stones and danced at the Asian Student Alliance's Phoenix Night Market.

On the final day, the monks prayed over the complete mandala, and in just minutes, they brushed away their hours of work into a pile of multicolored sand that blended into grey. Their demonstration illustrated the meaning of impermanence. 

Photo story by Susan Allen 

 

Tibetan monks blessed and arranged fine grains of sand into a mandala over the course of five days. A mandala can symbolize the universe and how we are all connected. 

 

A monk uses metal tools to draw fine lines of sand over their master pattern. 

 

In Tibet, monks churn tea, salt and yak butter to make a warming and nutritious drink that helps make up for the lack of green vegetables that cannot be grown at high altitudes. 

 

Students and employees line up to pour cups of butter tea after a prayer ceremony and a presentation on the history of tea in Tibet by Jongbok Yi, associate professor of Asian Philosophy, who visits Tibet every summer. 

 

Students enjoy a warming cup of tea after learning about the ancient Tea Horse Road, a series of trade routes, that stretched 1,850 miles through mountains for the exchange of tea and horses between Tibet and China. 

 

"Om Mani Padme Hum" is a mantra in Tibetan Buddhism meaning "the jewel in the lotus." Students paint the mantra on rocks with the visiting monks. 

 

The mantra is meant to uplift us from negativity. 

 

A student listens to a singing bowl that is used in sound healing and meditation. The sustained ringing resonated through the Campus Center. 

 

The monks make Tibetan dumplings with students during a cooking class. (Photo: Lizzie Nealis)

 

During the closing ceremony, the monks whisked the mandala into a pile of grey sand with brushes. 

 

The mandala is bottled into tiny glass jars for members of the community to take as a reminder of the lessons of the sand mandala. 

 

The event was sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the School of Arts and Humanities, the William T. Daly School of General Studies, the Philosophy and Religion program, the Integrative Health Minor program, The Noyes Museum of Art, the Office of Global Engagement, the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration Committee and Chartwells.