On March 10, the ceremony of sand mandala’s destruction of the Buddha of Compassion Avalokiteshvara will take place in the Central Khurul. Today, March 9, is the day of contemplation of the mandala.
Buddhists know that the creation and destruction of a mandala symbolizes detachment from anything external and material. This is the idea of the impermanence of everything and one of the important postulates of Buddhism. Everything in this world is subject to destruction, and the mandala is no exception. The ritual of destruction is a rare opportunity to reflect on the frailty of being.
Monks destroy the newly created mandala (many days of work of many people) without regret despite all its beauty and value. The sand mandala exists only for the time it takes to create it.
Each mandala is a tantra text encrypted with graphic symbols, which can be deciphered only by knowing the secret language of the mandalas. Even to an uninitiated person, the image of the mandala is seen as a kind of map. This is true. Mandala is a map of the path for a person to the world of enlightened, awakened consciousness.
The mandala is destroyed in the process of a special ritual, during which it is cut with a special "knife" - the vajra. When all the ritual incisions are made, the sand of the mandala is collected in a bowl. Part of the sand will be given to those who were present at the mandala construction ceremony, it will become a talisman against troubles and illnesses. But the main part is spilled out into the water of a river. It is through water that Buddhist monks spread divine blessings to all living on this planet.
I remember how Tibetan monks from the Gyudmed monastery came to Kalmykia in 2002-2003. In Elista, they built three sand mandalas, which symbolize the matrix of the Universe and at the same time the palace of deities. The Green Tara mandala was erected first, then the Avalokiteshvara mandala, and the third the Yamantaka mandala. During their visits, the monks of Gyudmed also conferred the blessings of Goddess Tara, Manla (Buddha of Medicine) and Manjushri (Buddha of Wisdom) and performed ceremonies for the purification of the universe.
Editor’s note: Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni khurul, built in 2005 with the blessing of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at the personal expense of the first President of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and money raised by the people of the republic, has become the hallmark of Elista - the capital of the steppe region.
