Constructing the Mandala for Universal Peace
Lama Nubpa Chodak Gyatso has commissioned one of the few artisans in the world with the skills to properly construct the Shi-tro Mandala for Universal Peace. Pema Namdol Thaye is a world-renowned t'hangka painter and sculptor, and has been commissioned by museums in Europe and Asia to complete similar projects.
Mr. Thaye led a small team of assistants in constructing the Shi-tro Mandala, which required 7,000 hours of labor, much of it by volunteers. Workers employed a combination of traditional and modern methods and materials in carving, mold-making, casting, sanding, and painting the various elements comprising the mandala. It was built to very precise measurements and proportions, handed down to Mr. Thaye through a centuries-old Tibetan lineage.
It was carved mainly from wood and clay and adorned with gems; modern resins were also used. One hundred clay statues of deities, sculpted in Bhutan, are arranged in the center of the mandala on an interior platform according to an ancient, sacred blueprint for inner peace. His Holiness the Dalai Lama blessed the mandala in June of 2000. It was consecrated in an elaborate ceremony on November 17, 2000, after being completed .
Chagdud Gonpa thrived as a Buddhist monastery and temple in Tibet for eight centuries before His Eminence Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche established the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation in the United States in 1986. H. E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche is a highly revered teacher and meditation master, as well as a Tibetan doctor and accomplished artist. He is one of the last iving Tibetan lamas to have completed his education in Tibet prior to the Chinese Communist takeover. As a result of Rinpoche's compassionate, enlightened intent, as well as the pure motivation and hard work of his lamas and students, more than twenty Chagdud Gonpa centers have been established in North and South America. These centers offer Tibetan Buddhist teachings and meditation practices-profound methods that lead to the simple goal of good-heartedness. As Rinpoche himself has taught-cultivating a good heart in daily life by practicing virtue, compassion, equanimity, love and joy-this is the way to enlightenment and the goal of Buddhist practitioners.
More than a decade ago, H. E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche invited Lama Nubpa Chodak Gyatso, then living in India, to come to Los Angeles to serve as the resident lama of Chagdud Gonpa T'hondup Ling, Lama Gyatso was able to fulfill Rinpoche's request in 1996, when he moved to Los Angeles. Lama Gyatso's own Buddhist training began in Tibet at the age of four. He later trained with many great Nyingma masters, and studied Buddhist and Western philosophy in India at the postgraduate level. Lama Gyatso's knowledge in the ritual arts of Tibetan Buddhism is exceptionally broad, and he has overseen numerous stupa and statue
consecration projects.
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Contructing the Mandala for Universal Peace
Lama Nubpa Chodak Gyatso has commissioned one of the few artisans in the world with the skills to properly construct the Shi-tro Mandala for Universal Peace. Pema Namdol Thaye is a world-renowned t'hangka painter and sculptor, and has been commissioned by museums in Europe and Asia to complete similar projects.
Mr. Thaye led a small team of assistants in constructing the Shi-tro Mandala, which required 7,000 hours of labor, much of it by volunteers. Workers employed a combination of traditional and modern methods and materials in carving, mold-making, casting, sanding, and painting the various elements comprising the mandala. It was built to very precise measurements and proportions, handed down to Mr. Thaye through a centuries-old Tibetan lineage.
It was carved mainly from wood and clay and adorned with gems; modern resins were also used. One hundred clay statues of deities, sculpted in Bhutan, are arranged in the center of the mandala on an interior platform according to an ancient, sacred blueprint for inner peace. His Holiness the Dalai Lama blessed the mandala in June of 2000. It was consecrated in an elaborate ceremony on November 17, 2000, after being completed .
Click on the thumbnails
| Shi-tro Mandala for Universal Peace | ||
The Shi-tro Mandala for Universal Peace project is sponsored by T'hondup Ling, the Los Angeles center of Chagdud Gonpa Foundation (a non-profit Buddhist organization), and involves a rare three dimensional Tibetan sculpture called the Shi-tro Mandala for Universal Peace. The project was conceived by T'hondup Ling's resident Lama, Lama Nubpa Chodak Gyatso, to preserve a vital part of the vanishing Tibetan sacred culture and to function as a focal point for a formal peace and non-violence curriculum. This traditional Tibetan Mandala is the first of its kind to be constructed in the United States, and measures eight feet in diameter and twelve feet in height.
Blessed by the Dalai Lama in June of 2000, construction of the Shi-tro Mandala was completed in November of 2000 after nearly one year of construction at Forest Lawn, Glendale. The Mandala is currently being shown at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena as the central piece in an eight-museum citywide exhibition celebrating the theme The Universe (February - May 2001).
Though often made by sprinkling sand on a flat surface, all mandalas are three-dimensional, with sand mandalas only hinting at the top view of a dazzingly elaborate creation. Due in part to the large committment of time, expertise and funding needed to create three-dimensional mandalas, there are only a few in the world. Requiring months to build, such mandalas, unlike sand mandalas, are not dismantled upon completion. Their multilayered symbolism conveys spiritual meaning for years to come
Only a handful of artists in the world possess the vast esoteric knowledge of Buddhist ritual, symbolism and philosophy that is needed to create a three-dimensional mandala. By supporting and dosucmenting their work, we can help preserve this ancient culture that continues to be threatened by extinction.
It is well documented that all but a few of Tibet's 6000 monasteries were destroyed and that more than 1.2 million Tibetans perished during the Communist Chinese occupation. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, venerated worldwide for his tireless efforts on behalf of peace and nonviolence, led the flight in to exile of thousands of Tibetans who now live in India, Nepal and Bhutan. One of the primary goals of His Holiness has been the preservation of sacred Tibetan art and culture, which he believes can benefit the people of all nations and cultures
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TOOLS FOR PEACE
| Tools for Peace |
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he Most Venerable Gonjang Rinpoche and a host of lamas | August 1-8 at the Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles.
| About the Shi-tro Mandala The Shi-tro Mandala depicts the peaceful and wrathful deities of the One Hundred Buddha Families ("Shi-tro" in Tibetan), which are expressions of enlightened qualities that have the power to transform negativity and promote well-being and spiritual development. "Wrathful deities" are not in any way expression of our ordinary emotional confusion; rather, the vast array such deities is simply a direct expression of the innate power of compassion that tames our emotional negativity. Each aspect of the mandala and deities is highly symbolic and is intended to awaken these qualities in the viewer. There are also ceremonies based on this secret mandala that benefit the deceased, freeing their minds of fear in the afterdeath state, or bardo. When the mind recognizes the bardo for what it is, all perceptions based on confusion are recognized for what they truly are - the peaceful and wrathful deities that are expressions of self-knowing intrinsic awareness - and one gains liberation from cyclic existence. The ceremonies for the deceased are very sacred methods to purify their consciousness and lead them further along the spiritual path. This mandala is being built from the sacred tradition of Tibetan Buddhism to create harmony between the inner cosmos of the mind and the outer universe that we share. |
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama
Thondup Ling was honored to sponsor an intimate morning with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on June 29, 2000. Impressively moderated by Sharon Stone, His Holiness took questions from the 1000-member audience, especially from the youth invited from local juvenile prison camps. The moment that remained in the minds of many came when a young woman in prison fatigues asked His Holiness "How can I keep an open heart in this cruel world?". Following a short teaching, he told her to come to the stage, got up from His chair, and gave her a big warm hug. It was evident to all that her life would never be quite the same. His Holiness also offered his blessing to the Shi-tro Mandala, then under construction.
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Lama Nubpa Chodak Gyatso has commissioned one of the few artisans in the world with the skills to properly construct the Shi-tro Mandala for Universal Peace. Pema Namdol Thaye is a world-renowned t'hangka painter and sculptor, and has been commissioned by museums in Europe and Asia to complete similar projects.
Mr. Thaye led a small team of assistants in constructing the Shi-tro Mandala, which required 7,000 hours of labor, much of it by volunteers. Workers employed a combination of traditional and modern methods and materials in carving, mold-making, casting, sanding, and painting the various elements comprising the mandala. It was built to very precise measurements and proportions, handed down to Mr. Thaye through a centuries-old Tibetan lineage.
It was carved mainly from wood and clay and adorned with gems; modern resins were also used. One hundred clay statues of deities, sculpted in Bhutan, are arranged in the center of the mandala on an interior platform according to an ancient, sacred blueprint for inner peace. His Holiness the Dalai Lama blessed the mandala in June of 2000. It was consecrated in an elaborate ceremony on November 17, 2000, after being completed .
Chagdud Gonpa thrived as a Buddhist monastery and temple in Tibet for eight centuries before His Eminence Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche established the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation in the United States in 1986. H. E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche is a highly revered teacher and meditation master, as well as a Tibetan doctor and accomplished artist. He is one of the last iving Tibetan lamas to have completed his education in Tibet prior to the Chinese Communist takeover. As a result of Rinpoche's compassionate, enlightened intent, as well as the pure motivation and hard work of his lamas and students, more than twenty Chagdud Gonpa centers have been established in North and South America. These centers offer Tibetan Buddhist teachings and meditation practices-profound methods that lead to the simple goal of good-heartedness. As Rinpoche himself has taught-cultivating a good heart in daily life by practicing virtue, compassion, equanimity, love and joy-this is the way to enlightenment and the goal of Buddhist practitioners.
More than a decade ago, H. E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche invited Lama Nubpa Chodak Gyatso, then living in India, to come to Los Angeles to serve as the resident lama of Chagdud Gonpa T'hondup Ling, Lama Gyatso was able to fulfill Rinpoche's request in 1996, when he moved to Los Angeles. Lama Gyatso's own Buddhist training began in Tibet at the age of four. He later trained with many great Nyingma masters, and studied Buddhist and Western philosophy in India at the postgraduate level. Lama Gyatso's knowledge in the ritual arts of Tibetan Buddhism is exceptionally broad, and he has overseen numerous stupa and statue
consecration projects.
For more information, send an email to Dr. Hope Elizabeth May, here.