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- Create Your Own Sand Mandala:
- For Meditation, Healing and Prayer
By Eileen Rose and Abby Rose Dalto
ISBN#1841812056
Godsfield Press Ltd. (UK) / Released by Red Wheel/Weiser (US)
Constructing
a sand mandala is an ancient Tibetan ritual art. A
mandala
(Sanskrit for “circle”) is a sacred, symbolic diagram, used as a
meditational aid in Buddhism and Hinduism. One of the most interesting
aspects of Tibetan sand mandalas is that the diagram is meant to be
impermanent. Although many hours of painstaking skill go into its
construction, after being used in a sacred ceremony, a sand mandala is
swept up and the sand scattered into a nearby river or lake as a
blessing. Many people find the dismantling and scattering of the sand to
be the most moving part of the ritual.
Create
Your Own Sand Mandala
will appeal to anyone interested in meditation, Buddhism, or sacred art.
This kit makes it possible for anyone of any level of artistic
ability to design his or her own personalized sand mandala ceremony.
It contains enough sand to make three mandalas in five sacred
colors (red, yellow, green, blue, and white), a funnel for directing the
flow of the sand, and a brush for sweeping it up. The kit’s box opens to
become a base on which the mandala can be created and the kit also
includes templates for guiding your designs. Instruction for coloring
your own sand is provided for those who wish to make additional sand
mandalas.
The accompanying
full-color book gives a brief history of the use and significance of
sand mandalas in Tibetan Buddhism, as well as various examples of
mandalas, sand paintings, and “sacred circles” in other cultures.
Readers will learn how mandalas can be used as aids to meditation, as a
form of prayer, in psychology, and in healing ceremonies.
Readers will also learn some of the traditional meanings of
colors and symbols used in mandalas, as well as meditation techniques
for centering and setting the intention for a mandala.
Easy to follow step-by-step instructions guide readers in creating
mandalas for healing, personal empowerment, and as an aid to prayer for
peace. Readers interested in creating mandalas in materials other than
sand will find guidelines for using paint, pencil, computer software,
natural materials, and other mediums, as well as full color examples of
"mandala" artwork
by contemporary artists.
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Table of Contents
Introduction: What a Sand Mandala
is and Why You’ll Want to Create One
Chapter 1: The Mandala in World
Traditions
Chapter 2: Color and Traditional
Symbolism
Chapter 3: Creating Your Own Sand
Mandala
Chapter 4: Creating a Healing
Mandala
Chapter 5: Creating a Mandala for
Personal Empowerment
Chapter 6: Creating a Mandala for Peace
Chapter 7: More Ways of Bringing
the Mandala into Your Life
Chapter 8: Mandalas in Paint,
Pencil, Pixel, and Stone
Appendix: How to Color Your Own
Sand
Resources for Further Study |
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Send us your letters and pictures. We would love to hear from our readers. Let us know about your own experiences, miracles, insights, and healings that you may have reached through the mandala. Photographs and drawings are also welcomed. Contact Us We Would Like To Thank The Gyuto Tantric University This book would not have been possible without the cooperation of monks from the Gyuto monastery, therefore we have donated a portion of our proceeds to them.
The
Gyuto
Tantric University is one of the most outstanding
monasteries of Tibet and it is the place for studying Buddhist
philosophy, Tantric meditations, and ritual arts. The Gyuto
monastery
and the monks are well known in Tibet and were always admired by
the Tibetan community, because of their services to their
people. Traditional Tibetan tantric monks are believed to be
healers through their ritual performance activities. One of the
main disciples of Lama Tsongkhapa, Jetsun
Kunga Dhondup, founded the Gyuto monastery in 1474 in Eastern
Tibet.
Between 1474 and 1959, the Gyuto monks
made their home in Lhasa’s Ramoche Temple. In 1959, the Ramoche
Temple was severely damaged by Chinese communists and their
sympathizers following their violent occupation of Tibet. The
Gyuto monks and many Tibetans had to flee to India, where the
Gyuto monastery was reestablished. Despite many difficulties in
the new settlement they still managed to practice and educate
over 400 monks, mostly young refugees from Tibet. The Gyuto
monastery is currently located in Sidhbari, near Dharmasala (the
home of his Holiness the Dalai Lama).
There are many ways to support Gyuto
monks and their monastery, in order to share their rare tantric
rituals and their experiences. You can sponsor a monk resident
at the Gyuto Vajrayana Center in San Jose, or one in India, by
making a donation. Your donation helps to cover expenses such as
house rent, medical bills, food, transportation, utility bills,
monks’ robes, and other minor expenses. Even a small donation is
of great benefit. There are 400 monks at the Gyuto monastery in
India, mainly young refugees. Besides educating, clothing, and
feeding these monks, Gyuto monastery would like to build a
Medicine Buddha clinic near the Dharamsala site, to provide
medical care to the entire Tibetan and Indian local community.
If you
are interested in sponsoring a monk or making a donation, please
contact Venerable Thupten Donyo at the Center at (408) 926-9430
or email to
info@gyutocenter.org, and he will be more than happy to give
you more information about the monastery, or the monks. The Gyuto Vajrayana Center is a non-profit organization [501(c)3] and all donations are tax-deductible. |
