The museum is presenting the construction of the intricate medicine Buddha sand mandala -- a painting made from colored sand -- as part of its two-year exhibition on Buddhist art and ritual from Nepal and Tibet.
In addition to the mandala, the exhibition includes a Buddhist altar and sculptures from India, China, Japan, Thailand and Burma. The different aspects of the artifacts show the spread and change of Buddhist belief and culture throughout Asia, said Assistant Director Andy Berner.
The creation of the sand mandala is a ritual performed in Tantric Buddhism during the initiation of monks or in prayer to a specific deity. After it is completed it is destroyed as part of the ritual.
Construction is a meticulous process wherein colored sand is poured by hand from cone-shaped instruments into the pattern. It will take 3 1/2 weeks for the two Buddhist monks visiting from the Nymgal monastery in Ithaca, N.Y., to complete the five-and-a-half foot pattern.
"This exhibit is great," Berner said. "You can see things visually and learn about a religion that way."
Museum curator Barbara Mitilsky describes the exhibition as a tribute to Tibetan culture. "We decided to do this in memory of the recent 50th anniversary of the Chinese invasion and widespread burning of Buddhist books and monasteries," she said.
The chosen artifacts for the exhibition were selected by Ackland curators from several other museums' collections of Himalayan art. Instead of setting up individual display cases, they invited the venerable Tenzin Gephel from the Namgyal Monastery to arrange the artwork in a traditional Tantric Buddhist altar.
Mitilsky said the exhibition provides its audience with a realistic look at Buddhist worship. "Most of the time you see artwork displayed individually and out of context. We decided to display the artwork as it would be used," she said. "The altar and the mandala side by side demonstrate the interweaving of art and ritual in Buddhist culture."
The construction of the sand mandala is also a representation of Tantric Buddhism, also known as the Varjayana sect, as it is practiced in monasteries. Although originally made from powdered gemstones, the medicine Buddha at the Ackland is created from mere sand and natural dyes.
