Document text
Photo by Jim Craven Visiting children watch as Tibetan monks Lobsang Thinley, left, and Aten painstakingly make a sand painting. The monks use brass cones of colored sand that they rub with sticks to slowly release the sand grains. The monks will work on the painting all week in the Rogue River Room at Stevenson Union on the Southern Oregon University campus. Monks share ancient art Tibetan sand painting is one method visiting monks use to raise healing forces, cultural awareness this week By BILL VARBLE Four Tibetan monks hunker forward over a wooden table, their heads bent over the center, and a droning sound begins. It recalls oddly the sounds of the chanting the monks were doing earlier. The sound is coming from small brass cones the monks rub together like pairs of sticks. This sets up a vibration that causes a very fine line of colored sand to pour onto the table from the small end of each little cone. The monks plan to spend the rest of the week using millions of grains of sand to create a mandala -- a meditative design and a symbolic diagram of the universe. Such is the ancient art of Tibetan sand painting. Then, in a reminder of the transience of all life, they monks will sweep the thing up and throw it in the river. The monks are visiting Ashland all week from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in India. They say they want to spread healing forces while raising awareness of their ancient culture, and of the occupation of their native land by China. They began their visit Monday with a prayer for world peace at a Martin Luther King Day celebration and plan to wind up Friday and Saturday nights at SOU's Music Recital Hall with a performance called "The Mystical Arts of Tibet," a program of sacred music and dance.(For ticket information, call 552-6461). The monks were welcomed to Southern Oregon Tuesday at SOU's Rogue River Room by Takelma elder Agnes Baker Pilgrim. The oldest known living descendant of the original people of Southern Oregon greeted the monks in front of a crowd of several hundred, saying, "May the people in this country hear their message." Then Ngawang Tashi, an English-speaking monk, introduced the monks. "We believe we can create some cosmic energy," he said with a faint smile. The monks sought permission from local spirits to create energy here, he added. Then seven monks in maroon robes and ornate yellow headdresses signalled the start of the mandala ceremony by playing cymbals, bells, horns and a drum. Flanked by flowers, feathers and incense, they chanted for a half hour. These monks are masters of the art of overtone singing, in which each can produce several notes at the same time. Most of the chants sounded to Western ears like abstract patterns of notes rising above a hypnotic bass note. Ngawang Tashi said the mandala the monks are making is one called "The Buddha of Long Life." Such symbols are believed to have an outer meaning and also point to inner truths. The mandala is being made on an ordinary table about five feet square. The room where it's being done will remain open during the Stevenson Union's normal hours, and anybody who wants can visit it. "We're learning so many of the healing aspects they have to offer us," said Helen Sohl of Ashland, who came to see the monks and the mandala. "That's a blessing that was an unintended outcome of the invasion of their country." Drepung Loseling monastery was founded in 1416 near Lhasa, Tibet, and once housed 10,000 monks. It was destroyed along with countless other monasteries by Chinese forces in that country's 1959 invasion of Tibet, but 250 monks escaped and now live in India. The monks have had help in focusing attention on their plight. Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart helped out with their first tour in 1989 and sometimes performs on stage with chanting monks. Actor Richard Gere founded the nonprofit Tibet house in New York City to study the old ways of Tibet. Proceeds from this tour go to the monastery and its programs. Ngawang Tashi plans an appearance on Jeff Golden's "Jefferson Exchange" radio program at 9 a.m. today. At noon he'll speak on the significance of the mandala sand painting at SOU's Rogue River Room. At noon Thursday he'll speak on sound as medicine for healing, also in the Rogue River Room (admission to the talks it $4, or $2 for SOU students). At 2 p.m. Friday the monks plan to throw the mandala into the Rogue River at TouVelle Park. The idea is that the river can take the sand to the sea to be spread around the world. The Rogue was sacred to the Takelma. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA