Come enjoy all that the Compassionate Mandala Tour has to offer including a Tibetan concert featuring traditional multi-phonic chanting, nomadic songs with modern rhythms and riffs; the creation and dissolution of a sand mandala; as well as workshops and special events throughout the week!
English speaking exiled Tibetan Monks including musician Tenzin Choegyal will be at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum while the Museum hosts the Tour from Tuesday, October 2, through Sunday, October 7, 2007.
Namgyal monks from the Dalai Lama's private monastery in Dharamsala, India, will visit The Aldrich to conduct the age-old ceremony which involves the creation and destruction of a traditional sand mandala, a ritual that remains true to one of the most profound tenets in Buddhism—impermanence.
The mandala is a particularly poignant and important ritual art form. In Tibetan, this art is called dul-tson-kyil-khor, which literally means "mandala of colored powders."
Using a metal funnel, the monks patiently and meticulously place millions of grains of brightly colored sand to form intricate geometric designs that contain ancient, spiritual symbols.
The sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for consecrating the earth and its inhabitants, and Tibetans believe that all who participate and watch the mandala process accumulate merit. The sand is traditionally made from ground precious stones. Since each grain of sand is charged with the blessings of the ritual process, the entire sand mandala embodies a vast store of spiritual energy.
The Namgyal monks, along with Aldrich educators, will teach traditional techniques to create designs with the colored sand, allowing participants to fully experience both the exquisiteness and difficulty of this art form right in the Museum atrium!
Participants in these workshops and special events will observe the creation of a sand mandala, learn about its meaning and history, and participate in the dissolution ceremony where the design is destroyed and ritually returned to nature.
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