| |
 It
was during the summer of 1989 at Skywalker Ranch,
where I’ve worked for many years, that I
first met Losang Samten. The monks from Namgyal
Monastery, the personal monastery of the Dalai
Lama, were on tour in the U.S. to introduce their
sacred arts and ancient dances to the Western
public, to share the unique splendor of Tibetan
culture, and to bless the entire planet. While
the monks were in the Bay area, I went to a performance
of their “Ritual Dances from the Diamond
Realm.” They danced in magnificent brocade
costumes with elaborate masks to the haunting
sound of drums, trumpets and horns, bells and
cymbals and conch shells. These compositions,
many over 1600 years old, are part of ancient
healing ceremonies that attempt, through music,
ritual and symbols, to open up one’s consciousness
to our inherent “Buddha Nature” of
peace and compassionate wisdom.
The Namgyal Monastery monks returned again to
San Francisco in 1991 to construct a sand mandala
at the Asian Art Museum in connection with the
Wisdom and Compassion Exhibit, the largest collection
of Tibetan artifacts ever assembled at that time.
While in San Francisco, Losang became my spiritual
friend and teacher, and introduced me to the practice
of Tibetan Buddhism.
In 1994, I traveled with a group of fellow students
and Losang to India on a pilgrimage to the ancient
Buddhist sites from Delhi, to Bodhgaya, Varanasi,
Sarnath, and on to Dharamsala in the foothills
of the Himayalas where the Namgyal Monastary monks
were constructing a sand mandala on a platform
in the center of a spacious, high-ceilinged temple.
They begin the sand mandala by drawing an outline
following an ancient text. Starting at the center,
they apply the sand through an elongated funnel
(chakpu) by rasping it with a second funnel. The
rasping creates a vibration in the funnel that
causes the sand to flow from the small end. The
sand is made from crushed sandstone, dyed fourteen
colors with natural pigments. I was mesmerized
by the sound created by the chakpu that echoed
throughout the building.
It was fascinating to watch the monks paint this
masterpiece of Tibetan sacred art, measuring seven
feet in diameter, entirely out of colored grains
of sand. I’d always thought of art in terms
of oil on canvas, watercolor or gouache on paper,
something that would last forever, or at least
hundreds of years. But that is not the case with
sandpaintings, which are by their very nature
meant to be impermanent.
The Venerable Losang Samten, a renowned Tibetan
scholar and a former monk, was instructed by His
Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to be the first to
share the ancient sacred art of Tibetan Sand Mandala
with the West. Losang was born in the small town
of Ribuce in central Tibet in 1953, but escaped
to India in 1959 when Tibet was occupied by the
Chinese Communists. He was ordained as a Tibetan
Buddhist monk at Namgyal Tantric University in
Dharamsala, India in 1967, and served as Personal
Attendant to the Dalai Lama from 1985-1988. Losang
received the Geshe (doctoral) degree in Buddhist
Sutra and Tantra Studies from Namgyal University,
and since moving to the U.S., has been awarded
an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Trinity
College, Hartford, Connecticut, and an Honorary
Doctorate of Art from Maine College of Art in
Portland, Maine. He entered lay life in 1995,
and has since traveled the world, especially the
United States and Canada, teaching and lecturing
at schools, universities and museums on Tibetan
culture and the art of the sand mandala.
Losang will be constructing the Wheel of Life
Sand Mandala, one of the most important mandalas
in Buddhism, at the Marin Civic Center, Manzanita
Room, on September 6-9, 2006. The Wheel of Life
is a presentation of the Buddhist teachings on
the suffering and impermanence of cyclic existence.
It is used as a teaching device to illustrate
some important ideas in Buddhism, particularly
having to do with death and rebirth. It is a valuable
tool for psychological introspection as well.
No one know for sure when it was first devised,
but some believe it goes back to the time of the
Buddha himself (2500 years ago). The Lord of Death,
Yama, holds the wheel between his teeth, hands
and feet. At the center of the wheel, a ring is
formed by three animals: a pig representing greed;
a snake representing hatred; and a rooster representing
delusion. These three natures (poisons) are what
drive sentient beings to remain in the realms
of desire, and undergo the endless cycle of life
and death.
A sand painting is performed for the benefit
of all. The focus and discipline of the painter
is an offering of peace and hope for all members
of the community. At the end of the construction,
the artist’s creation is destroyed to demonstrate
the Tibetan philosophy of the impermanence of
life. The sand will be ceremonially carried to
the Lagoon at the Marin Civic Center to bless
all the wildlife in the water and all sentient
beings in the area. |
