MR1341 'Circle of joy'

Shechen Monastery in Bodhnath, Nepal. At the end of a long drupchen ceremony lasting nine consecutive days and nights, the mandala, drawn in precise detail with different colored sand, is swept up as a symbol of the impermanence of all phenomena. The sand is placed in an urn and carried in procession to be scattered in a nearby river. The procession returns to the monastery courtyard, and the monks walk in single file in the form known as the 'circle of joy' (gakhyil)--resembling the Chinese yin-yang symbol--before going back into the temple for the conclusion. 2005. Purchase online a professional quality photographic print, signed by the hand of Matthieu Ricard, buddhist monk, photographer and author. He has also been the French interpreter of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama since 1989. Some of the photographs in his collection are printed in limited edition, signed, numbered and delivered with a certificate of authenticity.