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Healing the Earth:
A Sacred Art by the Tibetan Lamas of Drepung Loseling Monastery |
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From
all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with
colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. In Tibetan
this art is called dul-tson-kyil-khor, which literally means
"mandala of colored powders." Millions of grains of sand are
painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days
or weeks. |
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Formed of a traditional
prescribed iconography that includes geometric shapes and a multitude
of ancient spiritual symbols, the sand-painted mandala is used as a
tool for re-consecrating the earth and its inhabitants. |
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On
previous US tours the lamas have displayed this sacred art in museums
across the country, including the Arthur Sackler Gallery, Washington;
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem;
the Indianapolis Art Museum, Indianapolis; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort
Worth, and The Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. |
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The
lamas begin the work by drawing an outline of the mandala on the wooden
platform, which requires the remainder of the day. The following days
see the laying of the colored sands, which is effected by pouring the
sand from traditional metal funnels called chak-purs. Each monk holds a
chak-pur in one hand, while running a metal rod on its grated surface;
the vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid. |
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