Resource: Tibetan Buddhist Mandala
Media Type:
QuickTime Video
Length: 3m 26s
Size: 9.6 MB
This video from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly features Tibetan Buddhist monks constructing and destroying a sand mandala, a circular diagram of intricate shapes and symbols used to facilitate meditation. The creation of a sand mandala can take days or weeks, as millions of grains of colored sand are laid into place to form a representation of Buddha's divine palace. After its completion, in a process that takes no more than a few minutes, the mandala is destroyed -- an act symbolizing the impermanence of life.
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Loading reviews...Teachers' Domain, Tibetan Buddhist Mandala, published July 2, 2009, retrieved on ,
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/awr09.socst.world.glob.mandala/
- Background Essay
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Print Background EssayThe three main vehicles, or paths, in Buddhism are Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Vajrayana Buddhism, also known as Tibetan Buddhism and the "diamond vehicle," emerged in India as an intersection of Mahayana and Theravada precepts, with Hindu influences. From northern India it migrated to Tibet where it fully developed and fused with Bon, a shamanic native tradition.
Central to Tibetan Buddhism is the belief that all sentient beings are endowed with an enlightened essence, and all thought and action should be geared toward manifesting it to help others also become enlightened. The Buddha taught that the path to enlightenment is through adherence to the four noble truths:
The truth that life is suffering.
The truth that desire causes suffering.
The truth that there is a way to end suffering.
The truth that the way to end suffering is to follow the Eightfold Path of Buddha.
All Tibetan Buddhism is based on these truths, as well as the principle of interdependence: Everything that is experienced results from a complex interplay of causes and conditions. Happiness and suffering, for example, do not arise without cause. Buddhists believe that when the interdependence of all things is fully realized, there is nothing to desire or resent, and suffering ends.
Tibetan Buddhist thought also stresses that the true nature of life is empty, and nothing is permanent. Once these beliefs are actualized, worldly attachments are easier to shed, and the path to enlightenment becomes clearer.
The law of karma, defined as the law of cause and effect, guides Tibetan Buddhists. An action that results in suffering is believed to be negative or evil, while one that results in happiness is believed to be positive or virtuous. Suffering and happiness produced by thoughts and deeds can be experienced in this life or the next, if one has not reached enlightenment and is compelled to rebirth.
We assign reference terms to each statement within a standards document and to each media resource, and correlations are based upon matches of these terms for a given grade band. If a particular standards document of interest to you is not displayed yet, it most likely has not yet been processed by ASN or by Teachers' Domain. We will be adding social studies and arts correlations over the coming year, and also will be increasing the specificity of alignment.Source: Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly: "Belief and Practice: Tibetan Buddhist Mandala"
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