Buddhist monks creating mandala sand painting

The mandala being created at the Crow Museum of Asian Art at UT Dallas is sacred...and temporary.

There are works of art at the Crow Museum of Asian Art on the University of Texas at Dallas campus that date back centuries. The piece that's being created in the museum lobby this week is not meant to last that long.

"When we're making the mandala, our intention is for blessing, you know," Buddhist monk Geshe Tsewang Punchok said.

Punchok is one of four monks creating a mandala by 'painting' with sand. They use funnel tools called chak-pur, scraping the side to cause colored sand to flow out onto a table canvas. They've been working eight hours a day to finish it by Friday. This particular mandala is of Akshobhya - The Unshakable Victor. It is meant to depict conflict resolution and peace.

"We have a lot of problems around the world," Punchok said. "So the organization said they wanted this one for all the conflict."

"It's supposed to give positive vibrations and healing properties to anyone who views it," Crow Museum Director of Development Caroline Kim said. "Art is such a wonderful window to the world and to many different cultures in the world."

Visitors have been pausing in the space, considered sacred as the monk work, to take photos and reflect.

"That little buzzing kind of sound is very soothing," museum visitor Nancy Watson of Dallas said. "It's a great reminder of the value of not holding onto things too tightly."

That's because part of the art is its ultimate dismantling. After the monks complete the mandala on Friday, they will consecrate it and dismantle it, co-mingling all of the different colored sand into one.

"It symbolizes the impermanence," Punchok said. "So it means too much attachment is not good!"

Friday, November 8 at noon the monks will hold the Mystical Arts of Tibet Closing Ceremony at the Crow Museum of Asian Art at UT Dallas in Richardson. Sand from the dismantled mandala will be distributed to visitors to take home.