can you blow it all away? my day with the monks

 
 

This weekend my son and I ended up at a Sand Mandala ceremony guided by Tibetan Monks. I just vaguely remembered that something about monks was going on at the Chinese Gardens, and we just happened to arrive as the ceremony was beginning. And there was a prayer carpet in the front row that was just the right size for us to sit together, crossed legged and curious. When things are that charmed, I always pay closer attention.

The creation of sand mandalas is a ritual in the impermanence of life. Incredibly complex patterns are painstakingly built by trinkling grains of coloured sand into their microscopic places. Mandalas can take many weeks to construct - not a grain out of place. And then...the mandala is swept into the wind, the sea, or smeared up into a pile of nothing but sacred sand and given to worshipers or carried to the river by procession.

All that work. Then poof! Since not many of us have worked in the medium of sand, try this metaphor on for size: imagine covering a 5 × 5 foot canvas working with only the teeny tiniest brush. You work round the clock for weeks, barely eating. Eyes stinging, hands cramped. The perfect masterpiece of meaningful complexity - worthy of the Louvre. Instead of a gallery show or collecting a commission, you take it out back and burn it.

Or...imagine building a successful company from just an idea; weaving a marriage together for years; growing a community; a garden; a belief system that guides your entire life... and letting it all go, just walking away. No leverage, no strings, no regrets.

Could you do it?

I think I could. I think I might.

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pssst...I've decided to tweak my "I'm Loving Mondays" regular feature to simply, "I'm loving..." and run it when I'm inspired. The Monday thing was feeling too restrictive. That said - look for an "I'm loving..." post tomorrow! It'll be a good one.
xo
D

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join the convoposted 2 Mar 09 in: inspiration + spirituality articles   ·   tags: ,   ·   View Comments

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  • Thank you for sharing this ritual. For me, it's a new idea and very insightful. It seems like a great exercise for your mind and soul.
  • jo martin
    It's always the journey, not the arriving; it's not the goal, it's the process -- that's what the sand mandalas telll me. I do that in a way with things -- I'll acquire something I really want at that moment, enjoy it for a while, then give it awa - throw it in the stove.

    Good for you changing I'm Loving . . . . it's exactly your example to us all . . . .
  • Thanks for letting us know about the 'I'm loving' segment. If something isn't feeling right, you change it, you find what is, you keep looking. I so appreciate the example you set!
  • Li
    I've already posted my Monday Loves list on my blog today. I get you saying about it being too restrictive, but for me it's been a wonderful way to start my week in the right frame of mind, so I think I'll continue with it. Thank you for the inspiration :)

    Li x
  • Paula
    When he was learning the carpenter trade from his uncle, my father had a ritual he later called "throw it in the stove". His uncle gave him projects to do or he thought of something himself that he could make out of wood: a small chair, a bowl, an intricately carved picture frame. When he was finished, his uncle would show him how to improve it and after he did that work too, his uncle would say, "Now throw it in the stove!" They lived in a house without central heating. Dad later said that this was the only way to become a good carpenter. When I brought my art projects home from school as a kid, my Dad would always tell me how I could improve them and would then say, "Now throw it in the stove!" We didn't have a wood stove and my mother would always rescue the bedraggled paper Santa Claus or whatever it was. I think I would have been devastated then, but now I can really appreciate how this exercise teaches us how to revere the process without attachment to the product. I could use more of that these days.
  • what a great story! thank you. I have a similar twist...some of the best writing advice I ever got was, "get rid of the jewels", meaning, sometimes it's your best sentence or paragraph that needs to go to make it all work. just get rid of it...throw it in the stove.
  • Paula
    I like the jewels metaphor too. It's sometimes what we're holding onto the hardest or what we think is most valuable that needs to go.
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