Kalachakra Sand Mandala

A tradition originally reserved only for the monastic environment, since the early 1990s the Dalai Lama allowed the construction of sand mandalas in public places as a cultural offering and to promote preservation of Tibetan traditions. There are various types of mandalas constructed. The Kalachakra (the wheel of time) Sand Mandala, constructed at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, is one of them and it was based on one of the many Buddhist tantras, or continuities, that express the origin, practice and effects of the Buddha’s teachings. The Kalachakra Sand Mandala is a sacred ritual design belonging to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition called Vajrayana. It is a brilliantly colored, symmetrical design of geometric patterns measuring about five feet in diameter. Mandalas are used to intensify the imagination and to stimulate the creativity needed by the Buddhist practitioner for visualized meditations.

Consisting of five square mandalas, surrounded by six concentric circles, each square represents one of the five levels of Kalachakra’s palace, while the circles represent the elements earth, water, fire, wind, space, and, at the outermost circle, wisdom.

The mandala is created from the centre outward, with each monk working on one quadrant, using an elongated metal funnel, called a chakpu, which is filled with colored sand. The sand is carefully released through vibration by using a second chakpu to rasp the surface of the first.  A wooden scraper, called shinga, straightens the edges of the sand and removes any stray grains.

At the centre of Kalachakra, is a multi-armed, multi-headed deity that is in blissful union with his consort, representing the perfect union of wisdom and compassion. In the sand mandala the deities are symbolized by Sanskrit “seed” syllables or dots, except for Kalachakra, who is represented by the vajra, or thunderbolt scepter. The student of Tibetan Buddhism uses this mandala as an aid to visualize Kalachakra’s palace and enlist the state of mind represented by the deity, as a progressive step on the path to enlightenment. This particular mandala has a broader function to purify the environment and bring prosperity to the world.

Upon completion, the mandala remained on display until the end of the show, when a dissolution ceremony, involving the gathering up of the sand, took place. The public was invited to attend this ceremony and to join the procession that carried the sand to the river Liffey at O’Connell Bridge. The pouring of the sand into a body of water symbolizes temporality, the releasing of the deity, and the spread of compassion throughout the world.

Review | Mary Russell, ‘Footprint on the sands of time’, The Irish Times, 8 February 1994.

Review | ‘Dissolution Ceremony’, The Irish Times, 28 February 1994.

Review | Gerard Byrne and Ronan McCrea, ‘Kalachakra Sand Mandala’, Circa, No. 68 (Summer, 1994).