By Merrill Kaitz / MKAITZ@CNC.COM
Tibetan monks build sand pattern to teach compassion
What is now a beautiful and inspiring sand design will soon be at the bottom of the Powow River tomorrow, by design.
Two Tibetan Buddhist monks are nearing the end of a week-long ritual of peace by constructing a colorful sand mandala inside a downtown church.
Meditation, prayer and art came together in the basement of St. James Episcopal Church on Main Street where Geshe Gendun Gyatso and Dhondup Lama work together on the sacred art form. What they are close to completing is a relief design in dyed sand, full of sacred symbolism and bright with primary colors.
“We lost our country and we would like to create some peace in this nation,” Geshe Gendun says. “We believe we need to focus on positive things rather than fighting. We know this will be healing for Amesbury, the nation and the world.”
The circular, symmetrical work of art, some six feet in diameter, is being made of sand brought from the mountains of Tibet. The monks work on it painstakingly, using tapering hollow metal rods resembling files or cake decorators. To ease the sand out slowly and evenly, they rub the metal rods rhythmically with smaller sticks.
“It’s an amazing art form,” says Susan Little, owner of the Jabberwocky Bookstore in Newburyport where the monks created a different mandala last year. “I really enjoy being around them. I feel like I benefit. It’s always good for a Type A personality to stop and meditate a little bit.”
“The monks are sent out by the Dalai Lama to teach,” Little says.
The event is partly a fund-raiser to help support Tibet and the home monasteries of the monks involved. But the more important aspects of the project are the themes of peace and compassion.
“It doesn’t matter about the money,” Little says. “If you live peace and pray for peace, you can create peace.”
The theme of the mandala at the bookshop last year was healing, due to the fact that the project came in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Now Geshe Gendun teaches monthly at Jabberwocky. “Geshe is a title, like Ph.D.,” Little explains. “It’s the highest degree in Tibetan Buddhism.”
The mandala project is intended to be entirely non-denominational. Everybody is welcome to watch and participate, the monks emphasized.
The monk’s English is not strong on either grammar or vocabulary, but he expresses himself powerfully, with eloquent simplicity. His idealism is impressive, but he lacks neither humor nor knowledge of the world. “It’s hard to find a monk’s job in this country,” Geshe Gendun says. He has done well just the same, teaching at Boston University and serving as a chaplain at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
At a designated time, Geshe Gendun leads a brief meditation of about 15 minutes for spectators who wish to participate.
“When you breathe out, tension, suffering, everything can go out of your body,” he says.
On Tuesday afternoon, nine people meditated with the monk.
“Amesbury is an artists’ town,” Geshe Gendun says.. “So we decided to present the mandala here.”
After Geshe Gendun rang a gong softly three times to end Tuesday afternoon’s brief meditation, two of the participants laughed quietly. “Why do you laugh?” Geshe Gendun asks. One of the mediators explained that the session had ended one minute earlier than the precise monk had described.
“You see, you had fun,” Geshe Gendun says, smiling. “So much fun.”
At 7 p.m. Friday, Geshe Gundun will lead evening meditation and give a talk. Saturday morning, the public can again view the mandala and its completion. At noon, a procession will form at the church and walk with the swept up sands to the Upper Millyard, where the mandala will be deposited in the Powow River.
