Buddhist Monks Aim to Heal Flooded Musikfest Site

[Ensapa]

Can a few prayers heal the environment? Will it bring calm to a troubled land and soothe the energies of that area? These monks from Drepung Loseling are doing prayers for the area affected by floods in the US with the hopes of calming that area down. No matter how we want to put it, it is still a very nice gesture from the monks to the people there.

Buddhist Monks Aim to Heal Flooded Musikfest Site

Starting with ceremonial ritual today, Tibetan monks of Drepung Loseling will craft a mandala, a sacred sand painting, as the artists in residence at Handwerkplatz.

With more than a day to go before the opening of Musikfest, a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks today will practice a ceremonial ritual aimed at bringing environmental healing to Handwerkplatz, one of two platzes flooded in the final days of the 2011 festival.

The monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery, the Center for Tibetan Studies in Atlanta, will be in Bethlehem until Monday as the festival’s artists in residence, according to an ArtsQuest news release.

During that time, the monks will be creating a 9-foot-by-9-foot mandala sand painting – “Amitayus” – at Handwerkplatz. Amitayus is one of the deities of long life in Tibetan Buddhism.

“The mural will be meticulously crafted using thousands upon thousands of grains of colored sand, signifying environmental healing at the site,” the news release says.

Handwerkplatz – the festival home of crafters, artists and artisans – is one of two platzes in the Colonial Industrial Quarter along the banks of the Monocacy Creek.

Heavy rains caused the creek to overspill its banks on the next to last day of Musikfest 2011, damaging merchandise and forcing ArtsQuest to close Handwerkplatz and neighboring Volksplatz for the festival’s last two days.

Nonetheless, the crafters insisted on returning to the same site for this year's festival.

At noon today, the public is invited to join the monks for a special ceremony preparing the site for the mandala – a sacred and spiritual art form in the Buddhist tradition.

During the ritual, there will be music, meditation and mantras as the monks evoke spiritual forces. At the conclusion, the Lamas will then begin the process of sketching and creating the mandala, a process expected to take several days.

At the conclusion of their residency, the monks will carefully sweep away the sand from the mandala, sharing it with the audience and depositing the remainder into the Monocacy Creek, symbolizing the impermanence of life.

The event will take place during a closing ceremony, set for Aug. 6 at 7 p.m.

[Tenzin K]

According to Buddhist scripture, sand mandalas transmit positive energies to the environment and to the people who view them. While constructing a mandala, Buddhist monks chant and meditate to invoke the divine energies of the deities residing within the mandala. The monks then ask for the deities' healing blessings. A mandala's healing power extends to the whole world even before it is swept up and dispersed into flowing water—a further expression of sharing the mandala's blessings with all.

This sand mandala was made from millions of grains of powdered, colored marble. Powdered sand, flowers, herbs, grains, colored stones, and semiprecious and precious stones can also be used in the construction of sand mandalas.

Chalk was used to make the initial design. The mandala was completed using large compasses with white pencils, but the lines were not engraved or incised into the surface.

The monks used a cone-shaped metal funnel, or chak-pur, to pour the sand. Running a metal rod on the chak-pur's grated surface created vibrations that caused the sand to flow like liquid.

To Tibetan Buddhists sweeping up the sand symbolizes the impermanence of existence. Pouring the sand into water dispersed the healing energies of the mandala throughout the world.

[bambi]

Mandala offering is a powerful method for accumulating extensive merit in a short time especially for those who have passed on or in a confused state of mind. The accumulation of Amitayus prayers and mandala merits can be dedicated to them to have a good rebirth and have the 3 Jewels bless them. The Sanghas are truly selfless and compassionate...

The Merits of Buddha Amitayus Practice:

Buddha Sakyamuni has spoken about the power and the great benefit of Buddha Amitayus's mantra. According to the Sutra, it's said that the merits accumulated from offering Buddha with the most precious stones that fill the universe can be counted, but the merits of recitation the mantra of Amitayus is far too vast to be measured. Lord Buddha also given the example that reciting Amitayus mantra is liken a ninety nine millions Buddhas remain in Samadhi and chanted the mantra in one voice … thus it's extremely powerful.

The Tibetan word for mandala is kyil.kor: kyil is essence, kor is taking—taking the essence. The term means taking the essence on the base of offering a mandala, and what you get from this is merit—the cause. Therefore the essence you take is the generation of the whole path, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, as well as the result, the unification of the dharmakaya and rupakaya. The cause is merit, the path; and the result is enlightenment. In other words, from this practice inconceivable temporal and ultimate happiness results. One is making unbelievable business with the merit field!

It is mentioned that the better the quality of the offerings that one can imagine, the more details and clarity, the more merit one accumulates. The offerings are explained in the commentaries on the mandala, but it is very good to recite the verse from Lama Choepa when you offer the mandala alone, because you then have the leisure to visualize clearly. Doing it this way you dedicate the merit from each offering for the sentient beings as it is performed. It is very effective for the mind.