Monks Create Mandala Art at San Luis Obispo Museum of Art

THE TRIBUNE | SAN LUIS OBISPO
By Julia Dickey

Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in southern
India create a sand mandala at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art on Thursday

CALIFORNIA---"It’s hard to breathe near it,” onlooker Barb Thomkins said of the sand painting that six Tibetan Buddhist monks were creating before visitors to the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. Made of millions of tiny particles of hand-crushed and dyed river rock, such artwork could be ruined with a sneeze. But the monks, wearing deep red robes and sneakers, worked intently and stayed calm. Each held a thin metal funnel, rasping a metal rod on its grated surface to cause tiny amounts of sand to flow out like water. It had taken 17 hours over three days to create the mandala. In acceptance of the impermanence of life, the monks destroyed the artwork just after its completion Thursday in a meditative ceremony by sweeping up the brightly colored sand and distributing it to onlookers. [link]