Monks creating mandala at gallery

Tibetan Buddhist monks will be creating a Medicine Buddha Mandala at Toi Tauranga – Tauranga Art Gallery, from February 8 to March 11. Photo: TAG

Tibetan Buddhist monks will begin creating a Medicine Buddha Mandala for global healing and world peace at Toi Tauranga – Tauranga Art Gallery next week.

The special project has been organised by gallery staff in association with Thö Sam Dhargyey Ling – Dhargyey Centre of Contemplative Learning which was established in Tauranga recently.

Starting February 8, Thö Sam Dhargyey LingTauranga resident teacherVenerable Geshe Jamyang Sherab and Jam Tse Dhargyey Ling Whangarei's Venerable Karma Gyasey of Whangarei will work on the mandala daily from 10am to 4.30pm.

It is expected to the mandala will take up to 12 days to complete.

‘Mandala' is a term for a diagram, chart or geometric pattern representing the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, and is traditionally a two-dimensional representation of an Enlightened Being's place of residence and everything contained within it.

It is created from coloured sand particles, will be made in a unique traditional design which has been preserved through many generations along with studies and practices according to traditional Tibetan Buddhist lineages.

'The Medicine Buddha Mandala is a manifestation of the healing energy of all enlightened beings,” explains a Tauranga Art Gallery spokesperson.

'When positive or joyous feelings and attitudes pass through each organ and circulate through our whole system, our physical and chemical energies are transformed and balanced.”

'Everyone is invited and most welcome to come and watch the monks as they work and witness the Mandala as it grows.”

To help launch the special project, the public is being invited to an opening ceremony which is taking place at the gallery on February 8, starting at 5.30pm.

The ceremony begins with the monks welcomed and invited to construct the mandala by local iwi. They will then accept this invitation and recite prayers, then begin laying the sand in the middle of the mandala.

A closing ceremony will then be held on the morning of March 11, and will be presided over by Venerable Geshe Sangyey Thinley, a highly esteemed and experienced Buddhist practitioner and teacher from Jam Tse Dhargyey Ling in Whangarei.

During the closing ceremony the monks will recite prayers inviting the Medicine Buddha to enter his mandala. After this happens, each grain of sand is considered to be a seed to be a seed of great healing and well-being.

'The Mandala is then dissolved, representing the impermanence of all phenomena, and either taken to a large body of water or distributed to the people attending the ceremony.

'When the blessed sand is taken to water, the monks recite further prayers, offering the blessed sand for world peace and compassion.”

PUBLIC TALK AND THANGKHA PAINTING

Venerable Geshe Sangyey Thinley, resident teacher of Jam Tse Dhargyey Ling in Whangarei, will deliver a public talk on the meaning and significance of the Medicine Buddha Mandala at Toi Tauranga – Tauranga Art Gallery on March 10, from 2.30pm.

While Venerable Nyima Gyaltsen, an accomplished Thangkha painter, will be giving painting demonstrations in this ancient Tibetan cultural art practice at the gallery daily from March 6-10.

Entry is free and donations are most welcome. Offerings to Thö Sam Dhargyey Ling and the monks can be made in donation boxes or put on the altar.

For more information visit www.artgallery.org.nz/medicine-buddha-sand-mandala

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1 comment

mandala

Posted on 07-02-2017 00:58 | By edward_rose

Nice mandala , I really like mandalas and geometric art


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