The 2009 Tibetan Mandala Project--Background

The term ‘mandala’ is often translated as ‘circle’ or ‘discoid object’, but it is has been used to describe a diagram of the cosmos, a representation of the awakened qualities of the Buddha, and a guide for a practice of meditation.  It is also used to refer to sacred places or to symbolic diagrams.

Mandalas have an extensive history of their own dating from the 6th century and continuing into the early eleventh-century, and can be found in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions.  Some of the earliest examples of mandala imagery come from Mahayana texts wherein groups of eight Bodhisattvas assembled around a seated Buddha are described.  Later texts identified such groupings as ‘mandalas’.

Created by hand, mandalas embody traditional meditative designs that represent the universal qualities of harmony, balance and community.  Tibetans have long believed that to witness the creation of a mandala is to cultivate these enduring qualities within each of us, and so to witness the creation of a mandala is to lay the foundation for a strong and balanced human community.

These creations can be preserved in architectural structures and permanent material such as wood, stone, and paint.  They can also be made in ephemeral material such as sand or butter. 

In many traditions, particularly the Tibetan-Buddhist tradition, the mandala serves as a model for the reconstruction of the meditator’s mind from that of an unenlightened being, burdened by attachment and human suffering, into the mind of a Buddha who has attained an enlightened state of living, thinking, and being.   
   

For centuries, Tibetan mandalas were only seen by the monks and nuns of the Buddhist monasteries. In 1988, however, The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, allowed a mandala to be open to the public for the first time. The project was a sand mandala constructed by the Namgyal monks from Dharamsala, India, in New York’s Natural History Museum.

In August of 2006, two Tibetan monks, Geshe and Renchen Dorjee, arrived here in Northwest Arkansas. Three months later, they constructed a sand mandala in the Bogle Exhibit Hall of Old Main as an educational tool for the students and community, and as an offering of peace and harmony. Usually, sand mandalas are made by several monks working together, but Renchen volunteered to do the project alone as a gift to the university community. Geshe was available to welcome visitors, answer questions about the project, and oversee the closing ceremony.

Upon its completion, the mandala was destroyed. "It doesn't matter how beautiful," said Geshe, "nothing lasts forever." Packets of consecreated sand were given to those who were present to witness the mandala's destruction. These are said to bring positive energy to the sick and are used as blessings. After the ceremony, sand from the mandala was sprinkled into the stream at Wilson Park to spread a blessing through the Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas community.

Today, Geshe remains at the University of Arkansas as a professor of Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy and Culture in the Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences. This year, he is working with the Libraries' Diversity Committee to coordinate the construction of another sand mandala. See this year's schedule for complete details.