Sand art enjoyed, swept away

Katharine Appleyard and her two sons appeared mesmerized Saturday by the intricate field of colors on the table in front of them.

The Tacoma woman – along with Eli, 3, and Jasper, 1 – studied the lines of sand that a group of Tibetan monks created over three days at the University of Puget Sound.

They watched as two monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Tibet trickled grains of colored sand onto the circular pattern almost in unison. The monks call the pattern a mandala.

With rhythmic chants and music humming in the background, the scene at Collins Memorial Library was serene Saturday, almost meditative.

The library’s reading room was packed, as some 250 students, families and children watched the monks work their artistic mastery.

Appleyard, 32, said she liked that she could show her two sons how the monks rely on both skill and prayer to perform their work.

“It’s a pretty interesting concept for a little one to think about,” she said.

What might Eli remember most from the experience? “He got to share a couple pieces of candy with the monks, so that was pretty cool,” his mom said.

Saturday marked the third and final day of the mandala sand painting ceremony. The monks have traveled the U.S. for more than a year creating sand paintings, performing sacred healing dances and teaching people about their way of life. They’ve visited 25 states.

Serni Solidarios, director of student programming, said the monks visited the campus before, but never to produce a mandala.

He credited students, including the Free Tibet student group, for helping to bring the monks. He said the university also got a grant to help pay for the visit.

Monk Tenzin Phentsok, the group’s spokesman, said the mandala ritual dates back almost 2,000 years. After a chanting and singing ceremony the first day, the monks create the painting using a chakkpur, or metal funnel. The artist trickles sand grains by rubbing the chakkpur with a metal rod.

The painting is symmetrically and aesthetically perfect, with pronounced lines and patterns. The monks train for years to hone their sand painting skills, and the same patterns have been used for thousands of years, said Phentsok.

“The actual design is very ancient,” he said. “As for the artist, there’s no individual freedom. They must follow what they’ve been taught.”

Once complete, the paintings are bright and details vibrant. More importantly, they’re spiritual. In Tibet, the paintings represent such blessings as prosperity and good weather. They also bring balance.

The mandala at UPS has the same design of the painting the monks created shortly after Sept. 11, near ground zero.

It’s a shame, those familiar with the ceremony say, that the creations are destroyed almost as soon as they’re created.

To Tibetan monks, dissolving the mandala sand painting is as important as its creation. After singing and chanting on the third day, the monks sweep the painting away, giving some grains to local residents and pouring the rest in local bodies of water.

Phentsok said the “dissolution” of the mandala symbolizes impermanence. For some people, it means not being attached to material things.

At Saturday’s ceremony, the monks dressed in bright headdresses and played traditional instruments.

After singing and chanting once the painting was complete, it was swept away in an instant. The monks handed out sandwich bags with sand to residents, and dumped the rest out later in the day into Puget Sound along the Ruston waterfront.

Dan MacKinnon of Tacoma held his 2-month-old daughter, Margo, while watching the monks earlier Saturday.

“It’s amazing, really,” he said. “I don’t know how they do it.”

Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653