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Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Compassionate Mandala

Throughout the week of September 18-22, James Chapel has hosted the Compassionate Mandala tour. Of all the artistic traditions of Tibetan Buddhism the ritual of painting with sand is one of the most unique and exquisite. During the week, people were able to witness the slow unfolding of the mandala.

The monks also led the meditation class of Professor Hyun Kyung Chung, a singing class in Tibetan chant, and a workshop in sand painting. The week culminated in a concert Friday night and the Saturday dissolution ceremony (a reminder of the profound Buddhist concept of impermanence). The concert featured the traditional Tibetan chanting of the world-renowned Namgyal monks from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s private monastery in Dharamsala, India and Tenzin Choegyal, who draws on his traditional Tibetan roots to create music which expresses his thoroughly modern life.

Below is a short video of the dissolution ceremony and our walk to the Hudson River where we poured out the blessed sand used in the mandala. Please make a comment and follow other events of the tour at the related link posted here.



Video and editing by Troy Messenger

2 comments:

nativity said...

I attended this event. It was the first time I had seen the dissolution of a mandala in person. I found it to be among the most eloquent demonstrations of impermanence and interdependence that I've seen. It means a lot that Union plays host to such great teaching.

Anonymous said...

The dissolution ceremony was a beautiful event that capped off a wonderful week of programs. Many thanks to Auburn Seminary for bringing this program to the Union community.