Love, Commitment and the Creation of a Sand Mandala: Teachings by the Monks of Drepung Monastery

What if the thing that you lovingly crafted would be destroyed as soon as it was complete and perfect—how would you not suffer from that loss?

Such are the teachings of the monks of Drepung Monastery, emissaries of the Dalai Lama’s lineage, who spent five days this past week prayerfully creating an exquisite Medicine Buddha sand mandala only to ceremonially “destroy” it when it was finished. This process mesmerized a standing-room only crowd at Baltimore Yoga Village, home of the IMCW Baltimore weekly class.

On Sunday July 17, eight monks arrived in Baltimore following the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Washington, DC. Sitting on the floor around a bright blue square of wood, the monks began with a ceremony to cleanse and heal the space and those of us in attendance. With cymbals, drums, horns, and chanting, the Tibetan monks prayed for the removal of all that was being held back from love and asked each of us to actively participate in this process by releasing anything holding on in our own hearts. Then the monks immediately got to work, bringing out mechanical tools to draw the outlines of the mandala that they would fill with the design of the Medicine Buddha mandala. Over the next five days, they prayerfully created their mandala from 11-5 p.m. each day, offering morning meditations, teachings, and cultural events in the evenings; 100% of the proceeds for the whole week went to the monks. My own heart was touched to witness eight fully committed hearts in action.

IMCW-Baltimore meets each Tuesday night and, just as we had the last time the monks were in Baltimore, they taught during our weekly sangha time. About 100 people came for this meditation session, to be in the monk’s presence and to hear the teachings of the Dalai Lama. Even more potent than their words however was the partially completed sand mandala, situated between the monks and the sangha, in full view. There it lay—seeming to transmit these teachings: Love is in the actions we take today. Be not afraid to create beautiful things. Suffering comes from holding on to outcomes. Impermanence is the natural order of things—not a cause for anticipated sadness.

Throughout the week, the monks had a few main teachings; interestingly, they didn’t speak directly about impermanence. Instead, they let the sand mandala process “speak” about this—one of the Three Characteristics—while they spoke about the other two: Suffering that comes from attachment and no-self. We were counseled to look for the “me’s, my’s and mine’s” that we hold onto that underscore most suffering. And finally, to realize that there is no permanent Self to be injured, and thus this type of suffering is illusory. For instance, if we hold onto the view that “She broke my heart” or “This sand mandala is mine”, we reinforce a view of the permanent self that doesn’t exist. Therefore, all three characteristics were being illustrated through the sand mandala process.

Finally, at noon on Thursday, the mandala was completed and it was beautiful! When it came time for the closing ceremony, part of me wanted to keep the beauty and perfection that was the mandala today. My mind protested: “But it was just finished hours ago—can’t we keep it just a little longer?” The monks looked peaceful however as they asked us to take in the healing prayers that were lovingly installed in the mandala, and meditate on love. When they swept up all of the bright blue, green, read and yellow patterns into one non-descript pile of grains with some of the sand going to fill a jar, and the rest put in small plastic bags for us to take home, a state of peace and contentment permeated the room.

Soon afterwards, the monks poured the sand into the Jones Falls River with prayers of healing for the river and for the whole planet. With a heart overflowing with love and gratitude and now strength, too, I joined in these prayers and noticed that the crowd around me, now standing outside in the 102-degree heat, also looked radiant. I knew I had been given a great teaching indeed—not only about the short-lives of sand-mandalas, but also about keeping my heart open even as I see the world and its certain losses clearly. Where had the sand mandala gone, after all? Into loving prayers, into the river, and very, very soon, into my own flower garden where it will nourish peace and love.