Have you observed this? This was my first experience. It was very cool to see. While it is Buddhist, I am Christian and do not understand much of what this means.
Sand Mandala, pics and videos on 2 imgur albums:
➙ Creation
Sand Mandala, San Francisco, Oct 2025: Creation - Album on Imgur
➙ Dissolution Ceremony
Sand Mandala, Dissolution Ceremony — Wed 29 Oct 2025, San Francisco - Album on Imgur
My first time to see this. It was fascinating, beautiful, interesting, enlightening, cultural, religious.
My notes follow.
Sand Mandala
2025-10-28 Tue & 29 Wed
Club Wyndham Canterbury Hotel, 750 Sutter St., San Francisco
Tue 28 Oct — Creation
Mon 29 Oct — Dissolution Ceremony
△ Mandala, Oct 2025 ▲ 37.7888, -122.4128
“Having a smart brain is not enough. We also need a warm heart.” — the 14th Dalai Lama
Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics
Saboo Model Village, Leh, Ladakh
Union Territory of India 194101
+91-9797849183
△ Ngari Inst, Leh, Ladakh ▲ 34.133, 77.617
Tibetan Buddhist Monks
Sand Mandala (“MUHN-duh-lah” — per wiki, Sand Mandalas are a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. Once complete, the sand mandala’s ritualistic dismantling is accompanied by ceremonies and viewing to symbolize Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life. The monks pronounced it “MUHN-duh-lah”).
Sand Mandala, Creation — Tue 28 Oct 2025
My nephew and niece stayed at the hotel where these Tibetan Monks were going to create a sand mandala.
The names of the monks are Yeshi (“ishi”), center, wearing the yellow cap; Tenzing (eyeglasses); Rikdin on the left, and Tamdjul(?) at the back, right.
My brother shared 3 pictures he took on Mon 27 Oct 2025, the day before the mandala’s creation.
On Tue 28 Oct 2025 I decided to ride to San Francisco and check it out. Because of the motorcycle it was easy to negotiate traffic and parking — on the sidewalk in front of the hotel.
The Creation of the Sand Mandala was in progress. It looked nearly completed.
The sand is placed onto the template with funneled narrow tubes of (what looked like) copper. These tubes have serrations, scored lines, and when they are rubbed with a stick the tubes vibrate slightly and shake the colored sand onto the mandala in a precise and controlled way to create intricate patterns.
When I asked the monk Yeshi (“ishi”) what the equivalent Buddhist book is to the Christian’s Bible, he answered Dhammapada. But with the language difficulties I don’t think my question was clear. The Dhammapada, per some web searches later, is a collection of sayings of the Buddha, and it is one of the best known and widely read Buddhist scriptures.
I counted a total of 17 different colors of sand. The sand was blessed back in Leh, Ladakh IND before their travel.
They sold items to raise funds for their school. The wrapped yellow bundles are prayer flags.
The monks took a break. I left shortly after. I needed to collect some sand from the beach where we scattered my uncle’s ashes some years before.
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Sand Mandala, Dissolution Ceremony — Wed 29 Oct 2025, San Francisco
I arrived the next day, Wed 29 Oct 2025, just in time to observe the Dissolution Ceremony. The ceremony had already started but the dissolution of the mandala had not yet begun.
The completed mandala was very ornate and colorful. There is a symmetry to its pattern, and also an asymmetry incorporated with its colors and design. It all probably has meanings that I’m not aware of, but generally the four directions might mean the four points on the compass and mean that the mandala’s (spirit?), or (blessings?), are meant to be shared in all directions. A guess. If you have some knowledge, please share.
Nothin’ like a smart-ass monk, I tell ya…
