Coloured sand |
The Drepung Loseling Monastery was the home of the early Dalai Lamas and was founded in 1416 in order to collect and transmit the ancient Buddhist arts and sciences. The sand painting is just one part of their world tour which also includes musical performances. Whether or not the bustling lobby of Manchester Town Hall was the ideal place to locate the intricately peaceful and tastefully colourful artwork isn't really worth debating, but having to fight my way through a crowd of wedding guests did seem to take the edge off what I was expecting to be a tranquil experience. Still, the sight of the sand art and the realisation of how much concentration and skill had gone into producing left me a little in awe of the monks. Sadly by the time most of you will be reading this the sand painting will be gone, removed by the monks in a special closing ceremony.
The Monks gather for the closing ceremony | | 
The sand is carefully brushed to the centre |
What do you want to do now? |
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Mandala Sand Painting - Manchester Town Hall until Sun 29 June
Powerhouse -Watch again
