After spending seven days slowly placing grains of sand piece-by-piece, seven Tibetan monks visiting Laguna Beach destroyed the mandala they had created during a dissolution ceremony on Sunday at the Sawdust Festival grounds.
This mandala included an image of the Earth in the center with a white dove flying over it. The Earth was surrounded by symbols of all the world’s major religions.
During the Buddhist ritual creating the mandala, the monks contemplate world peace, compassion, wisdom, loving-kindness, wellness and long life. Once complete, they sweep all the sand to the center of the board, symbolizing that nothing lasts forever.
Some of the sacred sand was shared with people at the ceremony to take home. The monks carried the rest from the festival grounds to Main Beach, where it was released into the ocean so the prayers from the week-long ceremony would be released to the world.
On Monday, April 22, the monks will participate at 10 a.m. in Earth Day events at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano and then later in the day will pray in Laguna Woods at the HeartSpace OC center. They will do a final blessing at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, at the Rivian South Coast Theatre.
The monks, who are considered to be direct disciples of the Dalai Lama, last visited Laguna Beach five years ago.
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