This is a two-hour workshop and includes teaching how to create the following designs using the same techniques as monks use in creating a Sacred Sand Mandala:
- Eight Auspicious Symbols (Tashi Dargye)
- Yaks
- Windhorses
- Snow lions
- Stylized fire patterns
Materials Required:
- Two thin steel tubes (about 1-foot long and a half inch in diameter)
- Thin plywood "slates"
- Colored sand (available in crafts stores)
Suggested Donation: $25 (space is limited, pre-registration recommended)
Sand painting is an ancient Tibetan art form. The Sacred Sand Mandala is carefully constructed from dyed sand particles to represent the particular esoteric, textual traditions of Buddhism. It is a transient art form, thought to have originated in India and been transferred in the middle ages to Tibet. The sand mandala is constructed as vehicle to generate compassion, realize the impermanence of reality, and a social/cosmic healing of the environment.
Millions of grains of colored sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of several days, forming an intricate diagram of the enlightened mind and the ideal world. The most common substance used in the creation of dul-tson-kyil-khor is colored sand, which is ground from stone. Other popular substances are powdered flowers, herbs or grains. In ancient times, powdered precious and semi-precious gems were also used. Thus, lapis lazuli would be used for the blues, rubies for the reds, and so forth. When finished, to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists, the colored sands are swept up and poured into a nearby river or stream where the waters carry the healing energies throughout the world.
For more information about the tour and events happening throughout the week, click here!