Greetings from Doc Judie
I recently attended a spiritual workshop on the shores of South Lake Tahoe California. It was a late spring storm, yet the presentingTibetian monk was almost bare chested wearing only his light cotton orange robe. He seemed impervious to the cold and was in a deep trance state as he created a beautiful mandala.
The word mandala is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean circle. A mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represent wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself-a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite. The world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.
Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family and community.
In ancient Tibet, as part of a spiritual practice, monks create intricate mandalas with colored sand made of crushed semiprecious stones. The tradition continues to this day as the monks travel to different cultures around the world to create sand mandalas and educate people about the culture of Tibet.
The creation of a sand mandala requires many hours and days to complete. Each mandala contains many symbols that must be perfectly reproduced each time the mandala is created. When finished the monks gather in a colorful ceremony chanting in deep tones as they sweep their mandala into a jar and empty in to a nearby body of water as a blessing This action also symbolizes the cycle of life.
As I participated in the days of watching the detailed art form, I noticed that the group (myself included) lost time in a form of group hypnosis. On an individual level as matras were hummed and the intensive art work continued, I did not want the project to be over. But on the last day, the madala was completed, it was then destroyed and dumped into the chilly lake.
Very much like life, we are grains of colored sand and have a driven desire to create something with our time. We build homes, have families, acquire knowledge, build wealth. There is a time to stop and let it all go, completing the cycle of life and passing it on the next generation to start all over again. . I would love to hear your comments on the mandala.
Here's to your mental and physical health
Doc Judie
judie@docjudie.com 775 7823889
