Source: The Buddhist Channel
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=63,4405,0,0,1,0
Longmont, CO (USA) -- The Tri-State Longmont Buddhist Temple & the Drukpa Mila Center are hosting the construction and deconstruction of a sand mandala at the Longmont Buddhist Temple located at the NW corner of 287& Pike Rd. from Aug. 5, 9am-5pm.
Mandalas are important in the Buddhist tradition because they are artistic and physical expressions of conventional and ultimate realities in our lives. The ancient art of the construction of a mandala is a sacred practice which the Longmont Buddhist Temple is honored in hosting.
The form of a Tibetan mandala is one that reflects the impermanence of life because it takes the shape of a sand painting. The mandala being constructed will begin with a few grains of colored sand placed by hand on a 4'x4' board.
Slowly the painting of a Buddha land - or pure land of ultimate reality - appears representing the elements of earth. Each grain of sand is placed byhand and with caring thoughts of a trained monk to construct an entire world.