Of sand sculptures and mandalas...

The Travel channel was covering a sand sculpture competition in San Diego (see here for more details). I came across it quite by accident while flipping channels this weekend. Over the span of two days, the sculptors poured in their time, effort and creativity and brought to life some amazingly complex masterpieces. The twist thrown into the fiercely competitive atmosphere? From time to time, through random selection, one of the sculptures is blown-up and the sculptors must start from scratch with whatever time is left in the competition - someone's warped sense of humor I say because a piece of art that took time to plan, was toiled over and took shape is blown back into a shapeless mound of sand in a second! The team that overcomes the odds of their hard work being blown up to smithereens right in front of their eyes (lady luck needs to favor them big time) and comes up with the best sculpture wins a prize for their efforts.

Needless to say, I cringed everytime a sculpture was being blown up :) since I can relate to what the artists might be going through when they see their work of art being destroyed right in front of them! Talk about being attached to what you created right?! Atleast - if I mess up a painting, there is always an opportunity to correct it (most times anyway) and I breathe a little easier knowing the work I put effort into is still in existence! Not so for those artists on the beaches of San Diego, toiling under the sun, creating magical and whimsical figures that started as fragments of their imagination and creativity. In addition to dealing with whatever nature throws their way (rain, strong winds etc), seems like they needed an additional challenge brought in by the organizers.

To complete the saga of blown up sculptures and disappearing works of art, eventually a winner was picked. The second prize went to a team who in fact had their first sculpture blasted to oblivion and had to start off again on a new concept and bring it to life in the remaining time.

Suddenly I was reminded of the Buddhist monks and the intricate sand mandalas they create. Millions of grains of colored sand is laid out on a flat platform which has the geometrical design of the mandala, over a period of days or even weeks. Many monks work together over a period of time to come up with the exact geometry according to scriptures and then using traditional metal funnels called chakpur, they pour the sand into the pattern. The mandala is used as a tool for re-consecrating the earth and its inhabitants.

I have some thangka paintings of mandalas and just looking at them, I can tell how much time and effort has been put into hand painting the complex, perfectly geometrical patterns. The mix of colors on each design is unique and has to be actually seen to be truly appreciated. So doing this using sand can only be more challenging, requiring skills and patience beyond my imagination. I sit in the brush painting class for a couple hours and if its not going well, I am ready to give up and come back to it another day!

Unlike the sand sculptors in San Diego who watched helplessly when their sculptures were blasted off the face of the earth, the monks deliberately - yes, deliberately dismantle the mandala once it is completed, sweeping up the sand so painstakingly laid out, symbolizing the impermanence of all that exists. This is then handed out to the people present as a blessing for health and healing.

I really shouldnt be comparing the sand sculpting competition and the mandala creation but for the fact that both are terrific endevors of art and to see them go back to being just sand is basically undoing all the effort it took to build it up so painstakingly. Makes me wonder if I could be a little bit more detached from the art I work on. In time?? Maybe....

Links to more information on mandalas:
Religion and ethics - Mandala sand painting
Art of Mandala sand painting
Sand mandala - Wikipedia