mandala, day 5

(click to see larger version)

this afternoon, i visited the sand-mandala-in-process again. and was greeted by a new string of prayer flags, reaching out across the street, from the mandala-place to the building on the other site. there was a slight breeze, so i tried to take another prayer-flag picture, but it didn't really come out. yet, the prayer flags made me notice something i hadn't been aware of before: the bells that are part of the opposite building. it's a rather unusual sight. i will look for their story the next time i am there.


(click to see larger version)

and then, inside the town hall - the mandala, now with the full centrepiece and surrounding. again, i sat a while to watch the next forms take shape, in different colours.

so fascinating, to see this work, and the details of it, like the changing of the sand - in the background, you can see the various pots of sand. when one element is finished, the monk empties the sand applier, and then fills it with another colour. sometimes, the one or other also take a short break - 1 or 2 minutes, to drink some tea. but they don't stop the work together - one always keeps working. for the details, they use different instruments, some of them look like pens.

5 more days, then it will be finished. and then, will be destroyed in a ceremony. the mandala - it's all about process.

(here the notes of my first visit: "the world in a grain of sand".)

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