I just returned from a very moving Tibetan sand mandala closing ceremony. Lama Tenzin Tsundu was on Salt Spring creating an ancient sand mandala entitled the Green Tara.
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| Green Tara Mandala |
This mandala is a sacred artful symbol of compassion and harmony. He worked all week to create this beautiful painting and then today after meditation and chanting tossed flower petals on it and scraped across its surface from the outside moving inwards, as he moved around its periphery.
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| Scraped mandala with thrown flower petals |
I especially loved the sacred nature and the ritual of his art-making process. I loved his commitment to detail and unwavering concentration. I cried when such beauty was scraped away. Although this photo of the scraped center is beautiful in its own way and the gathering of the sand in a carrying pouch that he ultimately dumped into the sea was equally as beautiful.
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| The scraped center |
There was mindfulness and beauty to all that he did.
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| Carrying the mandala |
The practice of creating something, loving it and then letting it go, can be so powerful. It’s a life practice, isn’t it… Whether we give away a creation as a gift, let it blow away in the wind or be rained on, we are taught to appreciate what we have and be OK with letting it go when the time comes.
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| Pouring the mandala into the sea |
UK environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy in his gorgeous film
Rivers and Tides (click to see a beautiful excerpt) creates and then films his creation as it dissolves into wave or wind. Much like Lama Tenzin Tsundu he works methodically and mindfully often over a very long period of time. He uses natural materials and often leaves his creations, letting them dissolve back into earth, air or water. Lovely.
What could you create today and then let go?
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