The artwork is awe-inspiring -- an intricate and colorful sand painting that took 10 Buddhist monks five days to create. In an instant, it was destroyed, intentionally.
The monks believe the painting can lead to personal and planetary healing during times of uncertainty and economic crises. But as part of a 2,500- year tradition, the work is dismantled, the colors swept away to symbolize nothing exists forever.
Half of the sand was given to the audience on hand for the closing ceremony.
From all the artistic traditions of tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks to form the image of a mandala. The dismantling of the artwork was part of a closing ceremony that included a performance by a group of traditionally dressed monks.
To date, the monks have created mandala sand paintings in more than 100 museums, art centers, and colleges and universities in the United States and Europe.
