Monks Create Sand Art | NY

Four Buddhist monks in Utica, NY, Venerable Nyima, Venerable Sangye, Venerable Palden and Geshe Dhonag work over 30-hours to create a Chenrezig Sand Mandala which will be swept up as part of a dissolution ceremony later on the day it is finished. The Tibetan monks stand over a small, square table with intense concentration as they use cone-shaped metal funnels and thin rods to guide colored sands into intricate patterns of symmetry. Buddhists believe the creation of a sand mandala blesses and purifies the environment where it is made.