By Richard Lim
SIXTEEN monks, working in shifts from 9am till 9pm, took eight days to finish the 23m-by-23m tapestry, made of sand and semi-precious stones, and then erased the finished work.
Before starting work in Singapore, the exiled Tibetan monks had spent six months sourcing the stones, and then grinding them to specific sizes in their monastery in Nepal.
Laid out on the ground of Hall 3 of the Singapore Expo, the tapestry comprised a geometric grid and an intricate network of multi-hued lines.
It was a mandala, Sanskrit for circle, a sacred Tibetan Buddhism symbol used to support meditative practice. As with all devotional Buddhist works of art, it carried no signature. And in a ceremony yesterday, it was erased.
All is vanity, nothing too sacred to let go of. There could be no clearer demonstration of this central Buddhist teaching.
Taking part in the ceremony were the artist-lamas themselves, led by the monastery’s abbot Bhardo Sherpa, and a contingent of Singaporean priests led by the Venerable Shi Fazhao, abbot of the Golden Pagoda Temple in Tampines.
It marked the close of the five-day Sacred Buddha Tooth Relic Exhibition at the Expo, which was organised by the Golden Pagoda Temple. The show drew more than half a million visitors, including devotees from the region.
Meanwhile, the Ven Fazhao says there are plans for a four-storey temple in Chinatown to house the Buddha tooth relic for public display. The relic will remain under the care of Golden Pagoda Temple until the new temple is built.
The proposed temple will cost about $40 million and include a wax museum, a Buddhist museum and a food court.
