Tibet Comes to Bristol

bristol | peace | event notice Monday June 16, 2008 16:45 by Nick Thomas - The Pierian Centre info at pieriancentre dot com The Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA 0117 924 4512

Sand Mandala being created all this week.

Tibetan Buddhist monk Jamyang Ketup has come over from Nepal specially to create a traditional Sand Mandala for Refugee Week. The process is a sacred one, combining deep meaning with great beauty – and culminating in a ritual destruction of the whole week’s work. You can watch Jamyang at work – and you can have a go yourself!

Olympic Logo by Ugyen Choephell

Jamyang was at Sunday’s Big Fun Day in Queen Square, and for the whole of this week he’s at the Pierian Centre in St Pauls. He’s working on a Sand Mandala from 12 – 3pm every day, with a chance from 12 – 1pm for people to try their hand at creating their own! Visitors can buy lunch in the Old Kitchen and view the Celebrating Sanctuary art exhibition at the same time.

Jamyang Ketup is a Buddhist monk and head trustee of the Tharlam Sarsang Namgyaling Monastery in Nepal. Since the Chinese invasion in 1951 the guardians of Tibetan culture have been forced into exile in India and Nepal. Traditions that go back hundreds of years and are rooted in harmony and non-violence have been brutally suppressed. Tibetans use the Sand Mandala as a tool for the transformation of peoples’ minds, localities, the world, and the universe. Its construction is seen as a vehicle to generate compassion and help people realize the impermanence of reality.

After an opening ceremony, Jamyang draws the lines of the design – painstaking work based on ancient sacred geometry. Then coloured sand is carefully poured from traditional metal funnels called chakpur, in a process that takes several days. When the work is completed a consecration ceremony takes place, and then the whole creation is swept away! This apparent act of destruction is as important as its slow and careful creation – symbolizing the impermanence of reality. The sand is then carried in procession to a nearby river into which it is poured to disperse its healing energies throughout the world. This final stage, the Puja Ceremony, is taking place at 2pm on Sunday 22nd June, processing from the Pierian Centre to the nearby River Frome.

Jamyang is accompanied by Ugyen Choephell, a Tibetan exile living in Bristol. Ugyen is acting as interpreter for Jamyang, but he is also an artist in his own right. Some of his work is on display in the Celebrating Sanctuary exhibition that fills the Pierian Centre for the duration of Refugee Week. Full details are at www.celebratingsanctuary.co.uk.

The Pierian Centre is at 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA. Entry is free to the Sand Mandala, to the exhibition and to the dozen other events happening this week. Refreshments are available – and everyone is welcome! These events are part of Bristol’s Refugee Week (details at www.bristolrefugeeweek.co.uk). Information on Tibet can be found at www.tibet.com.

Truth Will Set Us Free by Ugyen Choephell