Making a Mandala: Five Monks, Five Days

Ever wonder how Buddhist monks make those elegant and intricate mandalas?  

Several years ago, a group of monks agreed to construct a mandala for the Arthur Ross Gallery at Asia Society Museum in New York. 

You can watch as the monks trace the outline of a cosmic chart. Next, according to the Asia Society , the monks begin a "drawing process,"which utilizes metal funnels known as chak-pur. Colored sand is scooped into these funnels and, using scrapers, monks add the sand to the design by means of a back-and-forth scraping motion over the ridges of the funnels." It's a pretty cool process. Ever wonder how Buddhist monks make those elegant and intricate mandalas?

 It's a pretty cool process.