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‘Mystical Arts of Tibet’ celebrates culture with paintings, dance
Story by Marium Mohiuddin • Photo Illustrations by f^obc il) lynecek, C'arino Casas and Sallie Turner • Photos courtesy of Texas A&M Amnesty International chapter
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0 n the second floor of the MSC sat two monks,
dressed in red robes, meticulously laying sand
on a black slab, creating a mandala. Students,
faculty and passers-by watched as they created
an intricate design with colored sand. Every person
who stopped was awed by their patience and detail.
To the dismay of the onlookers, however, the sand
painting will be destroyed today.
Katheryn Nguyen, president of A&M Amnesty In
ternational chapter, president of Students for a Free
Tibet (SFT) and a senior psychology major, said many
museums have offered the monks large sums of mon
ey to keep
a sand
painting.
Each time
the monks
refuse, sticking
to the belief that
the mandala is a
representation of
the impermanence
of life.
Since Satur
day, the monks
have spent
eight to 11
hours each day
constructing
the sand paint
ing — millions of
grains of sand intri
cately laid on a flat
platform to form the
image of a mandala —
as part of a five days of
events of The Mystical Arts of Tibet sponsored by the
A&M Amnesty International chapter.
Nguyen said this is an old tradition and that the
monks choose what to create by examining and see
ing what they feel the world needs.
“The mandala is a representation of Buddha,” she
said. “Right now, they are working on the Buddha of
longevity. There are several different Buddhas, and
with this one, they believe people in the world need
to have long lives. ”
Each image and every color in the mandala has a par
ticular meaning. None of it is arbitrary or ambiguous.
“The symbol in the middle is called a Shi and the
nine symbols around the center one represent the
nine other Buddhas,” Nguyen said. “There are four
domes, also on the mandala, represent pathways to
four different Buddha temples.”
The monks will dismantle the mandala at 2 p.m.
They put half in an urn and will deposit it into a body
of moving water. The other half will be given to the
audience. This is done to spread the healing all
throughout the world.
Nathaniel Rich, president of Texas A&M Universi
ty Buddhist Association and a sophomore philosophy
major, said there are five major colors involved with
the mandala.
“The colors represent the five root afflictions that
all of us suffer from — ignorance, greed, hatred and
others,” Rich said. “There are also five wisdoms that
Buddhists believe in. The symbolism of the mandala
is that these five afflictions, if practiced, will become
the wisdoms and that we have that potential to per
fect ourselves. It is a diagram of the spirit of our past.”
The week-long event will come to a close tonight
with the “Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Heal
ing” at 7 in Rudder Theater.
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Rich said the monks will be recreating parts of
their Tibetan Buddhist ceremony.
“A lot of what is happening is a showcase of Ti
betan culture which is profoundly rooted in Bud
dhism,” he said. “They are inseparable, and the cul
ture is geared towards spirituality and values. The
chanting and dancing have religious and spiritual sig
nificance. ”
Nyugen said the Tibetan Buddhist monks are the
only ones who can chant in overtone, which is
singing at one time in three different chords.
“They did the chants at the opening ceremony,
and there is no way to explain it,” she said. “It en
velopes you. It is overwhelming and beautiful. I don’t
know what it is, but it has comforting feeling, and it
brought me to tears at two different times. This is a
completely educational experience. ”
Even though Tibet has been surrounded by polit
ical debate and controversy, Nyugen said she was
amazed by the calmness of the eight Tibetan monks
that have been touring North America for the last 14
months.
“The monks are between the ages of 25 and 35,
and they act like they are 12-year-olds,” she said.
“They are not immature, but they are playful, like
kids. They are funny and sweet, and they are al
ways happy. If you ask them about the Tibetan sit
uation, they just say ‘Oh well’ and change the
subject. The only time they are serious is when
they are meditating or chanting. ”
The Tibetan events were held in coordination
with the International Day of Action for Tibet, a day
recognized by Amnesty International chapters all
over the world. The day was originated in a Massa
chusetts chapter of Amnest International.
Nyugen said she believes over the years, the rally
for a free Tibet has become a part of popular culture.
“It has definitely become trendy to work for this
cause,” she said. “It has, however, only helped us
to bring about awareness through popular means.
At the huge Tibetan Freedom Concert, everybody
at first was clueless about what it was about, but it
made 100,000 people aware.
“SFT is sometimes seen as political, but it is not;
all we want to do is educate the public. SFT is a
nonprofit organization working to educate the
young about the reality of Tibet and
to translate that awareness through
nonviolent, political,
social and inter
faith cam
paigns.
/\*r U A
AjClUv..
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