5/30

Day 5: Culture

So I didn't mean to post this so late, but it was well worth it!  Mr. B and I got an awesome chance to see Tibetan Monks LIVE preforming various sacred rituals and dances for us to help raise awareness of their endangered culture.  It was truly amazing!!! What makes me happy for my dad five, is culture.  It truly is the spice of this world.  If we didn't have our various traditions and beliefs the world would be very boring.  I am truly grateful for these peaceful Monks.  Even tho this is a "happy" post, I am sadden by the fact that they are being killed and living in exile.  However, after the show they were selling various items the refuges have made, so we bought a few things because all the proceeds go to help monks in training and their people in need.  So that made me feel really happy that we could pitch in a bit.  One of the highlights of the night was seeing the almost completed sand Mandala.

    

They first draw a chalk outline and then begin filling it in with sand while chanting a continuous prayer.  You can see the outlined outside border and a partially completed orange border.  You can also see some of the vary intricate sand designs!  This camera phone picture doesn't come close to doing it justice.  To the side of the mandala, they have various intricaly decorated bowls that hold the various colored sands they will use.  The way they handle the sand was cool too!  They use a long hollow metal utensil called a Chak-Pur.  Outside the auditorium, they also had two sand mandalas set up  that you could try and build yourself!  Mr. B and I gave it a shot and had a blast.  You also have another utensil that looks like a metal skewer stick with a small fan at the end.  What you do is rub it up an down the Chak-Pur to coaks the sand to come out the way you want it.  

 Me working on a section of the sand mandala, the little yellow tassel is

part of the awesome bracelet I bought to help out the Monks, go world peace!  

They had traced out this mandala for us to work on before hand.

We were enjoying ourselves so much most of the people from the show had cleared out.  Out of the corner of my eye a noticed someone walking towards our table.  Then I heard in an accent, "Ahhh, very beautiful, very beautiful!"  I thought that was a nice complement for someone who has never touched or made a sand mandala before.  When I looked up to smile in at the friendly person, to my surprise, was one of the MONKS!!!  A MONK THOUGHT I DID A BEAUTIFUL JOB ON MY SAND BLOB!!!!  It truly made my day/ night.  I was so happy!  These people are so kind and loving.  All they care about is world peace and happiness.  If you want to see a good movie, watch Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pit.  He did a great job and the film takes you all over Tibet.  One thing I know for sure is I want to travel all over the world and visit peoples different cultures.  We're all so amazing and unique and I would love to learn about everyone and their special traditions.  Tomorrow we're going to see if we can be there for the ending ceremonies when they destroy the mandala.  After they do that, they sweep up the sand into tiny little baggies and hand them out to people so they can take home a little piece of their culture with them. Sweeping up the sand also symbolizes the impermanence of existence in Buddhism.  It is all very interesting, amazing and joyful. 
 

 

Here is a close-up of part of the section I was working on.  I filled in the blue 

and tried to blend the green and blue together.

During the show, we got to hear and see the Monks play various instruments 

like the ones in the picture above.  (original image source)