Tibetan Mandala Dismantled

During September and October 2010, Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Mystical Arts of Tibet created a mandala of colored sand at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta. Their work was marked at each stage with ceremony, chanting, and meditation. They worked for weeks to complete the mandala of Avalokiteshvara (the Buddha of Compassion). The mandala was created to prepare, open, and invite benevolent sacred energies for the visit of the Dalai Lama to Emory University in Atlanta. The Dalai Lama is thought to be a reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara.

On October 12, 2010, under the guidance of His Eminence Rizong Rinpoche, the 102nd Gaden Throne holder of the Gelug lineage in Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the mandala was "closed." After prescribed chanting, music making, and meditation, the mandala was circumambulated three times by His Eminence, who was preceded by the Spiritual Director of DLM bearing incense. At a signal from His Eminence, the monks swept sand into tiny packets that were distributed as a blessing to those present for the ceremony.

Good-bye Beautiful Fish

Aren't they lovely? I will miss my three recently deceased gold fish. As always, life goes on: there are at least six others, mostly reddish gold, still gracing the dark waters of Plum Blossom pond. And we can hope for babies in the spring.

Weekend on the Alabama Beach

My husband and I went down to Gulf Shores, Alabama, for a long weekend. It felt good to give these beleagered Gulf Coast folks some of our cash. The beach was beautiful, and not crowded. We had a great meal at Louisiana Lagniappe Restaurant (crab on fried/baked eggplant and stuffed shrimp).

June 2010 Mandala Intensive

A wonderful group of women gathered in Plum Blossom Studio in Decatur, Georgia for this year's Entering the Circle: Five Day Mandala Intensive. We created many mandalas, talked about the history, psychology, forms, and colors in mandalas. We shared laughter and tears as we delved into mysteries of the circle and shared our lives for days of self-discovery through creativity. Here is our group portrait.

Huichol Beadwork Mandalas

I was in Mexico in May, and visiting the Wednesday market in Ajijic I saw some beautiful mandalas crafted by indigenous Huichol people using beads, hollowed out gourds, and wooden planks.

Moving Water Mandala

The bamboo drip fountain in my garden creates a pattern of sound and image.

Finding My Standpoint

A Mandala of Finding My Standpoint: standing still, balancing in place, tracing around my feet, painting in and around my footprints. A way of knowing my being within a particular place and time. Try it yourself sometime.

Turning of the Seasons: a Mandala

As Spring blossoms out of Winter, I am reminded that the year with its turning seasons is a mandala. It is a cycle that repeats again and again, each time with endless variations. This mandala, embraced as a model of how life unfolds, is beautifully expressed in a quote shared with us by Starr, a participant at our recent Part III Mandala Intensive.

There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.

Chogyam Trungpa

Mandala Intensive, March 2010

A week long mandala intensive concluded the Mandala Certificate Program for a group of five women from the US and Italy. The retreat, "Integrating the Circle," offered lectures, case study presentations, and experiences creating mandalas. Each participant also reported on her independent study project, another element in the Certificate Program. Projects included conducting mandala groups and workshops with mentorship, producing a mandala coloring book/calendar and mandala greeting cards, and developing an interfaith curriculum for introducing mandalas at spiritual retreats. Another project was the development of a website with authoritative mandala information for an international audience http://www.mandalaweb.info/.

The week was a rich gathering that deepened personal connections as well as affirming a shared belief in the healing, centering, grounding, soothing, and spiritual growing that is possible through creating mandalas.

Soothing and Centering

Susanne and Maureen Shelton presented on healing music and mandalas at a conference entitled, "The Agony of Caring: Professionalism and Moral Distress in Healthcare," sponsored by Emory University Center for Ethics, Atlanta, Georgia. Maureen taught two of her original songs (hear more at http://www.mandalacd.com/), and Susanne explained the neurological underpinnings of human responses to the circle before guiding participants in creating their own mandalas. Our points: self-care of caregivers is an ethical obligation, and creative activities are easy, effective, and enjoyable self-care.

Snow in Atlanta

Sunrise on snow in the garden of Plum Blossom Studio, Atlanta, Georgia. Snowflakes are some of Nature's most lovely mandalas. When enough fall in the same place--such as my back yard--I must stay home. Hooray for snow days!

More Mandalas from Mexico

Two weeks in sunny, colorful Mexico: a wonderful "Mandalas in Mexico" workshop, and delightful food, fiestas, and ancient archeology to boot! Near Guadalajara is Mexico's largest lake, Lago Chapala. The villages around the lake are quite old, and each has its special festivals. In the village of Jocotopec we strolled the streets near the Cathedral during the festival of El Senior del Lago, and admired the mandala that the locals call "pan de fiesta," or fiesta bread. (See the pic nearby) On another day we went in the opposite direction to the village of Mezcala, a community of "indigenous", or native peoples. Mezcala is also an important archeological site where objects dating to 1500 BC have been found in the nearby mountains and caves. In the small local museum I saw photos of pictographs found in caves, and actual stones incised with concentric circles still showng traces of white and bright pink pigment. So, the tradition of mandala making in Mexico dates back thousands of years, and lives on in the daily lives of the Mexican people in their art motifs, crafts, and foodways.

Mandalas in Mexico

January 16 - 24, 2010

Soon I go to Mexico, to the beautiful Lake Chapala area near Guadalajara. There I will lead a new mandala experience with a focus on the vibrant culture of Mexico. We will create numerous mandalas, and explore their meaning. The ideas of Carl Jung will inform our inquiry. Lectures on the history of Mexico, and the rich artistic traditions that thrive here will launch us into personal exploration of the sights, sounds, and tastes to be savored. I can hardly wait!