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04 / 07 / 2004
The Mandala will be finished Tuesday, July 6 for the Dalai Lama’s birthday
“The cancellation of the Dalai Lama’s visit is a lesson in impermanence and the fact that we can’t control everything,” said the director of the Casa de Tibet in Barcelona, Thubten Wangchen.
More information about
the Mandala Kalachakra
The largest Kalachakra mandala in the world (4 x 4 m in diameter), that six monks from the Namgyal Monastery specialized in this wheel of time have been constructing since June 5 on the Rambla Santa Mònica will be finished on Tuesday, July 6 as a tribute to the Dalai Lama on his birthday. “We have made many peace mandalas throughout the world, but the one in Barcelona is special because it’s the largest,” Thubten Wangchen, director of the Casa de Tibet in Barcelona.
The mandala was scheduled to be finished July 3 because, according to Buddhist tradition, it should have been finished before the Dalai Lama arrived to the city. His Holiness was to arrive tomorrow, Sunday, but due to illness, he must be hospitalized for fourteen days under doctor’s orders and thus the monks have relaxed their work pace. The monks were working everyday from 11 am to 10 pm and only stopping for meals.
Thubten Wangchen, said, “The cancellation of the Dalai Lama’s visit to Barcelona is a lesson in impermanence and the fact that we can’t control everything,” “We all have big projects,” added Wangchen. “But we can’t control everything and everything and sometimes we fail, but that is no reason not to keep the peace.” The Kalachakra mandala was being made in Barcelona for the Forum as a symbol of world peace. It is a representation of the wheel of time that seeks to teach how to value time in our lives. “A lot of politicians talk about peace, “said the director of the Casa de Tibet. “But if you want peace for yourself, first give to people around you.”
The mandala receives 7,000 to 8,000 visitors during the week and the figure rises to 10,000 on weekends. Today was special because the public could visit the inspiration ceremony that the monks hold every morning before they begin work. “They are prayers or chants that motivate them to work with the proper attitude, to repel any inharmonic thoughts (fame, power, ambition…) and therefore find the balance this work should transmit. “People who view the mandala come without any obligation, maybe they don’t understand it but they all enter respectfully, bring good vibes and carry the peace and harmony the works transmits with them,” explained Wangchen. He added, “We’ve come to Barcelona to show people spiritual art, the situation in Tibet after the Chinese invasions and our culture, Buddhist thinking isn’t only for Buddhists, it’s the same as Christ’s thinking: “Be kind to one and all.” We’ve come here to give a real message of peace and truth.”
The principle qualities the monks must possess in order to make the mandalas are a good memory, patience and concentration as well strength. “These monks don’t invent anything, they can’t event change the colors or the shapes, because they are it’s a millennium art; therefore they have to have a good memory. In the mandala, which represents the universe, we can se the negative as well as the positive, while we all have a dark side, we also have light; we shouldn’t deny the negative but rather find the balance between the two.”
The mandala has 722 symbols and each one has a spiritual message. Black represents ignorance, our dark sides; red, power; yellow, wisdom and development; white, purity; green, healing. “Every color has three tones that represent the stages of energy: initial, middle and strong. The mandala is made with sand that comes from the white stone of the Himalayas and with pigments from India.”
On July 15, there will be a procession to the sea in order to throw the sand into the water in a public ceremony to bring “peace and harmony among men, fish and all living beings and the environment and everyday life. ‘Why don’t we sell it to make money?’ some might ask. Things don’t last, this is the symbol of reincarnation and rebirth,” concluded Wangchen.
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