CREATION OF MANDALA

Three Tibetan monks from Namgyal Monastery based in Dharamshala, India are presently working on a Sand Mandala project called “Compassionate Mandala Tour” in celebration of His Holiness receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award of the United States this year. Here in New York City, monks are creating this sand mandala at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, located at 112 Street, Amsterdam Avenue, New York City.

To introduced briefing about the mandala, the creation and destruction of the mandala is a reminder of the profound Buddhist concept of impermanence. Of all the artistic traditions of Buddhism, that ritual of painting with colored sand is one of the most unique and exquisite. In Tibetan, this art is called dul-tson-kyil-khor, which literally means "mandala of colored powders." Formed of a traditional prescribed iconography that includes geometric shapes and a multitude of ancient spiritual symbols, the sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for consecrating the earth and its inhabitants.

There will be The Compassionate Mandala Tour concert at the Synod Hall, The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on Friday, November 09, 2007 at 07.00 pm. It is a rare opportunity to have a varied Tibetan musical experience featuring Namgyal monks and an exiled Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal. The Namgyal monks will perform their version of traditional Tibetan monastic chanting and will play traditional Tibetan instruments, such as 10-foot long dungchen horns, drums, bells, cymbals and gyaling trumpets.

All the proceedings from the concert will goes to the Tibetan Children’s Village School, Dharamshala, India a charitable school for educating and fostering thousands of Tibetan refugee students from Tibet.

This project and the concert is open to the public and if interested, you can get more information from the Cathedral’s official website.