By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY ,
The unique multiphonic singing of Tibetan monks was brought to the Creative Arts Center Tuesday. Wearing their rich brocade maroon robes with saffron orange overlays and ceremonial hats, the Drepung Loseling monks performed to prepare for the creation of a mandala – a large, round sand artwork that symbolizes world peace and healing.
The monks sang and chanted three chords of a note simultaneously while they played traditional instruments from their homeland of Tibet. The music featured 10-foot-long dungchen trumpets, drums, bells, cymbals and gyaling horns, which are slightly longer than a trumpet.
The public is welcome to watch as the monks use a metal rod and a funnel called a chak-pur to do the traditional painting throughout the week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Thursday and noon.-7 p.m. Friday. The rod vibrates the wooden base on which the painting is done, causing the sand to run out of the funnel like liquid.
The monks will perform closing ceremonies for the public at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, when they will destroy the mandala and sweep it up into an urn. They will distribute half to the audience during the ceremony and the remainder will be carried to Pontiac’s Beaudette Park, where it will be thrown into the Clinton River to spread the prayer throughout the world for healing and peace.
Art center Director Carol Paster said she is thrilled to have the monks in Pontiac. The Dalai Lama endorses their tour, which has three basic purposes; to contribute to world peace and healing; to generate a greater awareness of the endangered Tibetan Civilization in China; and to raise support for the Tibetan refugee community in India, where the monks now live in exile.
“Listening to the music and seeing them in their maroon and gold robes with the hats on was a very other-worldly and very high-spiritual experience,” Paster said. “It is a very wonderful thing for Pontiac to have a radius of peace here emanating good vibrations and they will be here all week.
“The chanting at the ceremony before they started painting the mandala is to get rid of any kind of negative energy.
“This is different than anything we’ve had. I don’t think anything can compare to having Buddhist Tibetan monks from half way around the world.”
If you go
The monks will perform “Sacred Music, Sacred Dance,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at 47 Williams Street in Pontiac, between Huron Street and Orchard Lake Road. Tickets are $20 at the door or $15 in advance. Photos of the monks, Tibet and the Dalai Lama will be on display at the art center through Nov. 21. For information, call 333-7849.
