"Monks offer gifts in front on a sand mandala" Courtesy of Kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu

Bliss in Los Angeles
LACMA'S "Circle of Bliss" Exhibition

By Joaquin Farinas

Enlightenment has finally come to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is currently hosting the "Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art" exhibition, a major exhibition of Tibetan, Nepalese, and Mongolian, Indian, and Chinese paintings, sculptures, textiles, and rituals implements. The exhibit, which opened October 5th, houses some of the rarest and finest Buddhist artifacts from all over Southeast Asia. The exhibit also correlates to the "Circle of Bliss Festival" currently being held in India.

The deity Chakrasamvra believed to be housed in the Circle of Bliss" Courtesy of Kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu

More than just a gallery showing, "Circle of Bliss" is an exploration and immersion in Buddhist faith and culture. As you enter the gallery of LACMA's east wing, you are immediately engulfed by the huge red walls and greeted by large golden letters that inform you of your journey's destination. "You are about to enter your heart-mind." Throughout the gallery, placards are placed to guide you through the basic tenets of Buddhist beliefs, adding invaluable connotation to the works around you.

Mandalas, typical to Buddhist art, utilize the circle as the embodiment of the heart-mind. The heart-mind is the ideal union of the male and female's supreme features. The male is full of compassion and skillful means and is represented by the sun. The female, represented by the moon, is wise, yet full of emptiness. The union of the heart-mind is entire sum off all mental experiences. When this union is attained the practioniner is in the state of enlightenment. The size of a small grain of barley, the heart-mind is found in the non-physical center of the body, falling slightly below the sternum. In Buddhist art, madalas use concentric circles to represent the various planes of the union of the heart-mind. Although many of the pieces in the showing are two-dimensional, mandalas are be visualized in three dimensions.

"The monks at work." Courtesy of lacma.org

Aside from paintings and sculptures, the exhibit's chief attraction is the on-site creation of the "Circle of Bliss" sand madala in the Ahamanson wing of the museum. Tibetan monks from the Ganden monastery in India are currently working on a thirty-foot diameter sand mandala that is believed to house the Buddhist deity Chakasamvra (whose name happens to translate to "Circle of Bliss"). Rotations of three monks sit lurched on a platform creating elaborately ornate concentric circles that, while beautiful in its appearance, also relates Buddhist philosophy. Minute in it's detailing, the mandala is as exquisite as any French tapestry. Unfortunately, the "Circle of Bliss" mandala will not have that long of a lifespan. Upon its completion, the sand will then be distributed among a designated few; the remaining sand will be poured into the Pacific Ocean. A religious and musical ceremony will accompany the completion of the mandala sometime in late December or early January.

This is the first sand mandala attempted in the United States.

Watching the creation of the sand madala is an addicting habit. One falls into a trace as the Tibetan monks sit laboring, hours on end, over their work of art. The monks sit lurched over the expanding circles sifting various brightly colored sands through a tightly wound metallic tube, grating a metal rod on the surface of the tube to extract a few grains of sand at a time. The grating creates a trance-like sound, losing all onlookers in a mild form of meditation.

For those new or skeptical to Buddhist practices, the museum encourages all to begin a personal journey towards enlightenment. In addition to several LACMA sponsored, Buddhist-themed poetry workshops, the exhibit also has a designated mediation room for museumgoers to sit down, relax and "re-focus their breathing." A children's workshop also encourages little ones to express their own heart-mind. Children can create their own mandala using construction paper and glitter. CD's are used for the center circle.

The exhibit, and its enlightenment, will leave Los Angeles on January 4th.

October 24, 2003