I just want to begin by saying that I am absolutely fascinated by Buddhism. I took an arts of East Asia class last semester and I fell in love with Buddhist concepts. I don’t know what it is about it really just draws my attention. I have actually been to several lectures about Buddhism and I am in the process of reading some books about it. It is striking that Buddhist monks are the happiest people in the world. This topic came up in my Collecting the Orient class. We were discussing consumerism and how we are pretty much never happy. We keep buying and shopping and saving money for fancy things… but does that ever bring the permanent happiness that we expect? We say, if I just had that car, I would be happy… but it just doesn’t really work that way. Buddhist monks, on the other hand, are above this. The transcend the idea of material happiness. One lecture I attended at a bookstore included a Buddhist monk (or nun, it was a woman, though the term nun sounds strangely Catholic) who talked about opposites and happiness and anger. Anger just gets in the way of happiness. It is a useless emotion. I am, of course, over simplifying, but this is the idea. I am aware that I have digressed at this point, but this is relevant. As I was visiting the mandala I was so amazed at the focus of the monks. I visited it several times and there were as few as 2 people to as many as 30 or so people visiting the mandala every time. I must note that the only time when there were only 2 people was at 9:00 in the morning. The question is, how, with 30 people staring and talking, do these monks concentrate. I live at home with my parents and my brother and I find myself getting extremely frustrated when I am trying to focus and I can hear any talking at all. How, then, do they do it with 30 people? In my experience with learning about Buddhism, it seems that they are trained to have extreme focus. They can basically generate all their energy towards one thing and not let anything else get in the way. This is a very important concept in Buddhism, especially Pure-land Buddhism (though I know that these monks practice Tibetan Buddhism, I still find this relevant). In Pure-land Buddhism pretty much the most important thing is that you repeat the name of the Amida Buddha. This will lead to enlightenment (again, a bit of an oversimplification, but still gets the idea across). However, the point is that they need focus to do this. Meditation is pretty much the central point of all forms of Buddhism. The Buddha himself was believed to have reached enlightenment while meditating. Therefore the practice of meditation is taught in all forms of Buddhism and includes extreme focus, such as the focus necessary to complete the sand mandala.
On a similar note, when I went in to the library at 9 AM or so, the two monks were praying. On a table in their little station there is a photograph of both the Dalai Lama and the boddhisattva Avalokitesvara. The Dalai Lama is thought to be the reincarnation of this bodhisattva. I would assume that they were paying homage to both of these people. Again, this would require great focus in such a busy area.
There were a number of other things that I noticed. First of all, there was music playing the entire time they worked on the mandala. Some of it sounded very typical, as you would expect, however, I found that some of it sounded to me like something more characteristic of a Catholic monastery. Not that I am at all an expert on either kind of music, but being Catholic, it was just an observation. Also, on the table with the pictures there were flowers and oranges. The flowers were orange, pink, red, and yellow. I have to wonder a few things: are these offerings to the Dalai Lama and Avalokitesvara? I have to assume that the oranges have a special significance. The flowers, however, are they offerings or just decorations? If they are offerings, are the colors or kinds of flowers significant?
Now, I also have to wonder a few other things. These questions, I must admit, are not the most intellectual, but I am sure that more people than we realize wonder about these matters. First of all, what if they mess up? Make the wrong design or use the wrong color? How do they repair the mistake? Or do they leave it as is and try to somehow cover it up? Also, along these lines, what if they sneeze? I can only imagine how awful and frustrating that would be!
It takes them a week to complete this structure. Do they have a certain time line that they must memorize in order to finish it in perfect time? I noticed that they draw some kind of outline of the structure so that they know what they have to fill in. I found that very interesting, especially since it is helpful to the viewer to see the progress and what is left to complete.
I found out through talking to my professor that certain monks are trained in making mandalas. I had wondered if there were “mandala specialists” or if all the monks had to learn. I also found it very interesting (especially being a bit of a women’s libber) that women were previously not allowed to build the mandalas, however, the current Dalai Lama is allowing for women to learn the trade of making sand mandalas. I have to wonder why a woman would not be allowed to build one. I find this especially interesting as the Bodhisattva which this mandala represents, Avalokitesvara, through transfer and accommodation, eventually became a female known in China as Guan Yin. The real question, however, is what is it about building sand mandalas that makes it a bad thing for females to do?
The sand mandala is meant to be representative of impermanence; the transitory nature of life. When they complete the sand mandala they have a closing ceremony and then dump the sand into a body of water nearby. I find this so intriguing. How frustrating it must be to destroy something that took so much time and so much effort. Yet the symbolism in it is so powerful and fascinating. When I looked at the mandala on Thursday I could not believe the process. I remember the first day when there was nothing. Then six days later there was this beautiful, colorful, intricate design. It was amazing to see the progress as well as how detailed it is. They use a tool that releases only a few grains of sand at a time which is absolutely insane to think about. This allows for the extreme detail needed for the design. Now as I understand, the colors have special significance. The colors include orange, pink, blue, white, green, yellow, red, and purple. I have found that red, blue, yellow, green, and white are representative of the five Buddha families and represent the energies associated with the family.
To conclude this post, I just want to say that I have a great deal of respect for these monks. Their focus and dedication is admirable. I am amazed at their dedication to their work and their religion as well as the detail and beauty of the mandala. It was such an incredible opportunity to have these visitors at The College of New Jersey, for which we should be grateful.
