Walking by Dana Auditorium last weekend, you probably noticed an odd metallic noise.
If you investigated, you would have found four Buddhist monks seated around a low table in Dana Lobby. You also would have been surprised to see that they appeared to be playing in sand.
The Shiwa Tour of Tibetan Peace and Healing stopped at Guilford College Sept. 26-28. Four monks – Geshe Wangchuk, Geshe Sangpo, Gelong Norbu, and Ngagrampa Ngodup – are touring the U.S. for the next year.
Sherab Lama, the group’s spokesperson, explained why the monks had come to Guilford.
“It is a tradition to construct mandalas, especially after national disasters or calamities, such as 9/11,” he said. They also wanted to share the traditions of constructing mandalas – an art that has existed since around 650 A.D. – and to raise funds for new facilities in Tibet.
Funds raised during the tour will go towards facilities for Buddhist study. Some will go to the Kadampa Center in Raleigh, a Tibetan Buddhist center for study and practice. Most of the funds, however, will go to Tibet.
Since the Communist Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959, it has been illegal for people to become monks. Monasteries relocated to India, and the Sera Jey Monastery, home of the Shiwa Tour monks, receives about 200 young people each year who desire to join the monastery. The monks receive food, shelter, clothing and academic training, courtesy of the monastery.
“These people come from Tibet over the Himalayas and 18,000 foot peaks on foot, just to become monks,” said Sherab Lama.
Daniel Rhodes is a Greensboro resident and Buddhist monk. He contacted the college a month ago about bringing the tour to Dana.
“Colleges are more flexible about things like this,” he said. “[The monks] were really excited about coming here, and they’re just as nice as they can be. I’m really happy to be a part of this.”
An audience of 50 Guilford students and community members watched Friday’s 10 a.m. opening ceremonies. After oddly melodic chanting, the monks got down to business.
They settled themselves around a raised platform. Cups of finely hand-ground and hand dyed marble pieces-sand, to the misinformed-littered the area.
The monks used metal, rod-like devices and scooped up sand in one end. Then they rubbed the rods together, creating the rhythmic clinking sound heard by passersby, and the sand came out the other end of the funnel. In this way, they had fine control over the sand’s placement.
The monks created a sand mandala, which literally translates as “center and surroundings.” The mandala that resided in Dana over the weekend was meant to channel compassion.
In Buddhist traditions, “the mandala is a palace for the divine beings,” said Geshe Wangchuk in the introductory ceremony. According to Sherab Lama, the mandala was also meant to be a home for “divine babies.”
After spending over 18 hours constructing the mandala, the monks ritualistically disassembled it. In a ceremony with nearly 100 audience members, the monks chanted over their finished creation and swept all of the sand into a pile.
“The monks don’t get attached to their work,” said Geshe Wangchuk. “They know that in the end it will be dismantled.”
The sand was collected and taken to the Guilford lake to be dispersed according to traditions. A parade of people followed the monks across campus.
Junior Josie Spooner participated in the unofficial procession. “It was a cross between a mummer’s parade and a carnival,” she said. “There was a sort of solemnity, but there were bright colors, people were smiling with their children, and it was a beautiful day. It reminded me that often things are beautiful simply because of their impermanence.