Labrang Tashikyil 2011 USA Tour
Workshops
Butter
Sculpture
For children: a
simple version of the Losar traditional butter sculptures on wooden
plaques. Instead of sculpting with butter, the children will use play
doh.
Butter sculpture is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist art. Although it is not as well known as another Tibetan ritual art, the sand mandala it is still an important aspect of Tibetan Buddhism in its own right. Butter sculptures symbolize impermanence, (a main tenet of Buddhism,) along with more ritualistic components, and are usually destroyed in anywhere from a day to a few years. They are traditionally made with yak butter, but in exiled Tibetan communities, as the weather is usually warmer, it is made with ghee, fat, and wax. Butter sculptures are displayed on altars and shrines in monasteries or family homes. They are traditionally made every Losar, the Tibetan New Year, and for the Butter Sculpture Festival, part of the Great Prayer Festival, or "Monlam Chenmo" that is held soon after Losar. In it, monks made huge, story high butter sculptures displayed outside the Jokhang in Lhasa, the holiest temple in Tibetan Buddhism.
Butter sculptures are displayed in many different ways; typically, they are made on a paddle, as free standing sculptures, or a decoration on tsampa cones called tormas. They are usually made in the form of flowers, "metog," or traditional symbols such as the 8 auspicious signs.
Tenpa Phuntsok Shows a Little Girl How to Make a Flower
Coloring Tibetan Designs
This workshop
is designed with small children in mind. The monks will
provide prepared drawings of Tibetan designs, such as the Eight
Auspicious Symbols and yaks. All that is required is that the
children bring their own crayons.
This is workshop that teaches how to create the following designs using the same techniques as monks use in creating a Sacred Sand Mandala:
All of the designs will be be pre-drawn so visitors can draw the sand following the lines.
Sand painting is an ancient Tibetan art form. The Sacred Sand Mandala is carefully constructed from dyed sand particles to represent the particular esoteric, textual traditions of Buddhism. It is a transient art form, thought to have originated in India and been transferred in the middle ages to Tibet. The sand mandala is constructed as vehicle to generate compassion, realize the impermanence of reality, and a social/cosmic healing of the environment.
Millions of grains of colored sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of several days, forming an intricate diagram of the enlightened mind and the ideal world. The most common substance used in the creation of dul-tson-kyil-khor is colored sand, which is ground from stone. Other popular substances are powdered flowers, herbs or grains. In ancient times, powdered precious and semi-precious gems were also used. Thus, lapis lazuli would be used for the blues, rubies for the reds, and so forth. When finished, to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists, the colored sands are swept up and poured into a nearby river or stream where the waters carry the healing energies throughout the world. For detailed information about the construction process of a Sacred Sand mandala, go to mandala.
Tibetan Prayer Flags
flowers
(several styles)
conch
jewels
animals
conch
jewels
animals
Butter sculpture is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist art. Although it is not as well known as another Tibetan ritual art, the sand mandala it is still an important aspect of Tibetan Buddhism in its own right. Butter sculptures symbolize impermanence, (a main tenet of Buddhism,) along with more ritualistic components, and are usually destroyed in anywhere from a day to a few years. They are traditionally made with yak butter, but in exiled Tibetan communities, as the weather is usually warmer, it is made with ghee, fat, and wax. Butter sculptures are displayed on altars and shrines in monasteries or family homes. They are traditionally made every Losar, the Tibetan New Year, and for the Butter Sculpture Festival, part of the Great Prayer Festival, or "Monlam Chenmo" that is held soon after Losar. In it, monks made huge, story high butter sculptures displayed outside the Jokhang in Lhasa, the holiest temple in Tibetan Buddhism.
Butter Sculptures at Monlam
Festival
Butter sculptures are displayed in many different ways; typically, they are made on a paddle, as free standing sculptures, or a decoration on tsampa cones called tormas. They are usually made in the form of flowers, "metog," or traditional symbols such as the 8 auspicious signs.
Tenpa Phuntsok Shows a Little Girl How to Make a Flower
Coloring Tibetan Designs
Sand Painting
This is workshop that teaches how to create the following designs using the same techniques as monks use in creating a Sacred Sand Mandala:
Eight
Auspicious Symbols (Tashi Dargye)
yaks
windhorses
snow lions
stylized fire patterns
yaks
windhorses
snow lions
stylized fire patterns
All of the designs will be be pre-drawn so visitors can draw the sand following the lines.
Monk
Teaching Sand Painting: Lotus Symbol
Sand painting is an ancient Tibetan art form. The Sacred Sand Mandala is carefully constructed from dyed sand particles to represent the particular esoteric, textual traditions of Buddhism. It is a transient art form, thought to have originated in India and been transferred in the middle ages to Tibet. The sand mandala is constructed as vehicle to generate compassion, realize the impermanence of reality, and a social/cosmic healing of the environment.
Millions of grains of colored sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of several days, forming an intricate diagram of the enlightened mind and the ideal world. The most common substance used in the creation of dul-tson-kyil-khor is colored sand, which is ground from stone. Other popular substances are powdered flowers, herbs or grains. In ancient times, powdered precious and semi-precious gems were also used. Thus, lapis lazuli would be used for the blues, rubies for the reds, and so forth. When finished, to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists, the colored sands are swept up and poured into a nearby river or stream where the waters carry the healing energies throughout the world. For detailed information about the construction process of a Sacred Sand mandala, go to mandala.
Tibetan Prayer Flags
In this
workshop, the monks will teach you how to make Tibetan Prayer Flags.
Prayer flags consist of auspicious mantras syllables and prayers which are wood block printed onto squares of cotton cloth in each of the 5 Buddha colors: red, white, blue, green, and yellow. Squares of paper, instead of cloth, will be strung together in this workshop
Usually the windhorse is at the center with the 4 supernatural creatures at each corner: the dragon, the garuda, the snow lion and the tiger. The horse gallops like the wind carrying the wish-fulfilling jewel. It radiates peace, prosperity, knowledge, success, long life, protection and health. The windhorse symbolizes positive personal power which eliminates all hindrances caused by illness, accidents, malign spirits and astrological auspiciousness, bestowing personal power and good luck.
Around the horse are 20-odd mantras—powerful ritual utterances—each dedicated to a particular deity. The idea is that as the wind passes over the surface of the flag, the air becomes purified, sanctified, and sweetened by the mantras. This is beneficial for all beings in the neighborhood.
In addition to the mantras are prayers for long life and good fortune of the person who erects the flags.
Tibetan prayer flags are flown all over the Tibetan cultural world—on high mountain passes, on rooftops, above rapids in mountain streams, bridges, monasteries— everywhere.
Prayer flags consist of auspicious mantras syllables and prayers which are wood block printed onto squares of cotton cloth in each of the 5 Buddha colors: red, white, blue, green, and yellow. Squares of paper, instead of cloth, will be strung together in this workshop
Usually the windhorse is at the center with the 4 supernatural creatures at each corner: the dragon, the garuda, the snow lion and the tiger. The horse gallops like the wind carrying the wish-fulfilling jewel. It radiates peace, prosperity, knowledge, success, long life, protection and health. The windhorse symbolizes positive personal power which eliminates all hindrances caused by illness, accidents, malign spirits and astrological auspiciousness, bestowing personal power and good luck.
Around the horse are 20-odd mantras—powerful ritual utterances—each dedicated to a particular deity. The idea is that as the wind passes over the surface of the flag, the air becomes purified, sanctified, and sweetened by the mantras. This is beneficial for all beings in the neighborhood.
In addition to the mantras are prayers for long life and good fortune of the person who erects the flags.
Tibetan prayer flags are flown all over the Tibetan cultural world—on high mountain passes, on rooftops, above rapids in mountain streams, bridges, monasteries— everywhere.