Small boy mistakes Jersey City sand mandala for playground, destroys hours of work

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Three Tibetan Buddhist monks have been making a sand mandala on the second floor of City Hall in Jersey City since Monday, April 21, 2014. Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on April 25, 2014 at 11:54 AM, updated April 25, 2014 at 6:15 PM

Jersey City received a lesson on the impermanence of life a bit earlier than planned today, when a toddler mistook a Buddhist sand mandala for a playground this morning, smudging the center and sides and almost destroying days of painstaking work.

Three Tibetan monks have been hard at work since Monday morning on the mandala, which are created and then destroyed in a ceremony to symbolize the fleeting nature of life. That ceremony, a 2,500-year Tibetan tradition, was scheduled for later today.

The mandala, made from millions of grains of sand in various hues, was about one hour from completion.

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Chodak added that the child who damaged the mandala inadvertently taught everyone the lesson it’s supposed to impart.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/04/small_boy_mistakes_jersey_city_sand_mandala_for_playground_destroys_hours_of_work.html



The Medicine Buddha sand mandala in Jersey City City Hall, after a small child decided to jump on top of it, destroying hours of work. Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal