Tibetan Monks Create, Then Destroy Sand Mandala

Nov. 8, 2018

For the week between Oct. 29 and Nov. 2, a group of Tibetan monks meticulously created, then promptly destroyed a sand mandala. Several monks visited DePaul from the Drepunh Gomang monastery in Mundgod, India and spent the week creating the traditional art piece out of fine colored sand, then, as is the custom, they destroyed the mandala and poured it into into the reflection pond in the Vincentian Residence courtyard. Their visit was sponsored by the DePaul Center for Religion, Culture and Community and the Department of Religious Studies.

Onlookers watch a Buddhist monk create a sand mandala, Wednesday, Oct. 31, in the Lincoln Park Student Center. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

After five days of slow, meticulous progress, several monks work together to finish the mandala on Friday. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

The monks rapidly rub their chak-purs together to deposit sand onto the mandala surface. They also wear masks over their mouths to avoid blowing the sand with their breath. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

Closup deatil of the mandala. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

The monks perform a closing ceremony where, after a series of chants, they destroyed the mandala. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

Monks customarily destroy mandalas immediatly after they are finish being created to bring fourth the underlying message that nothing is permanent. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

The sand is then swept up, some is given to people who witnessed the ceremony and the rest is carried to the nearest body of water. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

The monks continued the closing ceremony at the reflection pond in the Vincentian Residence courtyard. Their visit was sponsored by the DePaul Center for Religion, Culture and Community and the Department of Religious Studies. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)

They poured the remaining sand into the reflection pond in the Vincentian Residence courtyard. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)