Sand Mandalas

My fever has finally broken and despite the glands in my neck feeling like they are the size of grapefruits, I'm feeling quite a bit better. Now, I can talk about something a little more interesting than feeling sick!

On Saturday afternoon I went to a sand mandala demonstration at the Art Barn in Old Strathcona. Over the course of 6 days, a very intricate sand mandala was created by former monks from a monastery in India and a monk who resides in Edmonton. The interesting part about it is that upon completion, the painstakingly created artwork was washed away into the river. This follows the budhhist ideology of not having attachments. At the demonstration, they had an explanation of the symbolism in the mandala and it was fascinating to see that every little thing, including all of the colours, held special meanings. Nothing was put into the mandala just by chance. At the centre, was a flower that was supposed to represent perfect compassion. It was incredible to see the mandala start as a geometric blueprint and transform into a complicated, layered artwork. Apparently, part of a monk's monastic education includes learning how to create sand mandalas, butter sculptures, and traditional paintings.

This is an example of a sand mandala (this isn't the one that was created on Saturday.) In this picture you can see the blueprint that they use to create it: