There are some traditions that are kept secret for thousands of years.

Beginning in the B.C. era, Tibetan monks have been constructing sacred sand mandalas, which are representations of sand palaces for Tibetan Buddhist gods that are created to enlighten those watching. There are thousands of mandalas, each with a specific message.

But until 1984, the sacred art form was kept within Tibet.

Tibeten monks from Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, in Ithaca, began constructing a Chenrezig mandala in Eggers Commons at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Monday. The construction will continue until Friday.

‘We are making the compassion mandala for the community, for the individual, for the world, to improve compassion in our lives,’ said Venerable Thutop, a resident monk in Ithaca and member of the board of directors at the personal Monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Thutop was responsible for choosing the theme of the mandala being constructed at SU.

‘You will see a lotus flower in the center and the four directions has a symbol and each direction has different lessons,’ Thutop said. ‘The lotus flower represents compassion.’ The mandala is sponsored by The College of Arts and Sciences and the South Asia Center in Maxwell as a part of University Shared First-Year Experience for first-year and transfer students.

‘We chose to have them come because it connects tightly to the shared first-year experience, especially the Shen Wei Dance Arts performance which opens with a mandala on stage,’ said Susan Wadley, associate dean in anthropology and one of the organizers of the mandala event.

‘We want the students to be able to connect this experience with the performance later in the week,’ Wadley said.

To get the best view of the mandala in Eggers Commons this week, the public can either view the mandala from the ground level or watch from the balcony above. And for those who cannot make it to Eggers, the construction of the mandala will also be viewable on the SU Web site. All who watch are believed to gain an enhanced understanding of the message.

‘We have no interest to convert, we are just focusing on the compassion which can be common ground, for people to progress,’ said Thutop

While Thutop said the main purpose of this mandala is to share compassion, he also said the mandala is meant to increase awareness about Tibet, which is currently under Chinese control.

‘There is a lot of cultural suffering in Tibet … So far Tibetans have kept all these traditions and we don’t know how long we will keep these traditions with the current way,’ Thutop said.

Just as the tradition of creating mandalas may be temporary, the mandala itself will not be a permanent addition to the SU campus. Once complete, it will be ceremoniously swept away and destroyed.

‘We shouldn’t attach so tightly,’ said Thutop. ‘It’s about learning letting go and detaching from things … everything has a limitation and we have to understand that in nature. It’s an indication for symbolism of the impermanent nature.’

It is traditional to destroy mandalas after their creation, and then release the sand into a body of water to increase the reach of the message of the mandala, in this case, compassion. Onlookers at this week’s mandala will be allowed to take parts of the mandala home (in plastic baggies), before the remainder of the sand is distributed into the Hookway Pond at Barry Park.

‘It’s an amazing experience to watch,’ Wadley said. ‘People want to come back every day because it changes every day, and then it’s gone.’

ampaye@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2009 at 12:00 pm