Description

Tibetan monks producing a Mandala. Anyone unfamiliar with the process, they put colored sand made from marble into a piece of wood and scrap a stick of wood on top of it, letting the sand slowing vibrate out of the wood while they create this artwork. This Mandala was almost completed when the picture was shot, before it was destroyed. Every Mandala gets destroyed after creation to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists.

I wanted an arial shot here because of parts of Buddhism that speak of "no self", so I wanted to create a whole and not shoot on a particular self, one of the monks. Despite this, I was creating an environmental portrait of these men. Taking in what they do with symbolism. It was a challenging picture but I wouldn't have done it any other way - crits always welcome!

"Knowing Buddhism is knowing self, knowing self is forgetting self." - Dogen