Chenrezig Sand Mandala

This is a mandala. It is made entirely of coloured sand. It was made by Buddhist monks from the Tashi Lhumpo Monastery in Southern India. It was made by memory and took ten days to construct. The monks used bronze cones woth notches along the top. They filled the cones with sand and scraped the notches with a small sheet of metal so the sand came out of the hole on th small end of the cone.

The mandala is a depiction of a Buddhist palace. The palace of Chenrezig, the spirit of compassion. The 14th Dalai Lama is the current incarnation of Chenrezig. and after it is finished spirits are invited to inhabit the palace and the monks ask them to help people acheive their wishes. After a short time the mandala is ritually destroyed and the sand is thrown into running water so the goodness is spread to as many people as possible.