A Lesson in Impermanence

Clad in sleeveless monastic robes despite the cold, five Tibetan Buddhistmonks dispersed sand into the icy waters of the Connecticut River last November. The monks, brought here by Dartmouth Students for a Free Tibet, had spent several days in Rollins Chapel constructing an intricate painting made entirely of colored grains of sand. The vibrant colors of this sand mandala bedazzled hundreds of members of the Dartmouth community. The painting was destroyed after its completion as a lesson in impermanence. Although religious oppression in Tibet is so severe that images of the Dalai Lama are strictly forbidden, the Tibetan culture stubbornly refuses to evaporate. Ganden-Jangtse monastery, the home of these monks, has thrived in India since the original was destroyed after the 1949 Chinese military invasion of Tibet. The hope of the student group that sponsored the visit: if international support for this pacifist culture continues to grow, the next sand mandala a Dartmouth student sees might be created in a free Tibet.

Tibetan monks poured out their art—an intricate mandala of colored sand.